Wednesday's NHL Capsules

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Steven Stamkos scored his NHL-leading 42nd goal, Martin St. Louis had the shootout winner and the slumping Tampa Bay Lightning snapped a season-high four-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night.

St. Louis also scored in regulation, helping Tampa Bay build a 3-1 lead before the Stanley Cup champions roared back on goals by Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews.

Dwayne Roloson made 28 saves for the Lightning, then stopped Toews, Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa in the shootout. St. Louis scored the winner, doing a spin in front of the net, setting himself and firing the puck past goalie Corey Crawford.

Chicago has lost two straight following a season-best eight-game winning streak.

Capitals 5, Oilers 0

WASHINGTON (AP) - Alex Ovechkin had two goals and an assist to reach 601 career points and rookie Braden Holtby stopped 22 shots for his first career shutout and Washington's sixth consecutive victory.

Ovechkin passed Michal Pivonka to gain sole possession of third place on the team's career points chart. Only Peter Bondra (825) and Mike Gartner (789) have more points in a Washington uniform than Ovechkin, now in his sixth NHL season.

Eric Fehr scored twice in his return from a 22-game absence because of a shoulder injury, Alexander Semin also scored and Jason Arnott had an assist for his 900th career point.

Washington's six-game run matches its longest of the season (Oct. 30-Nov. 11). The Capitals also have won three straight at home, their longest such streak since mid-November.

Flames 4, Stars 3, SO

DALLAS (AP) - Curtis Glencross scored in the third round of the shootout to lift Calgary into a fourth place tie with Chicago in Western Conference, a point ahead of Dallas.

Alex Tanguay scored in the second round and Dallas' Mike Ribeiro countered on a nifty move in the third. Glencross, who scored the deciding goals in Calgary's previous two games, beat Kari Lehtonen with a snap shot.

Rene Bourque, Tom Kostopoulos and Anton Babchuk scored first-period goals during a 3:15 span to get the Flames off to a fast start. Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 31 shots for the Flames, who've won three straight and are 8-2-1 in their last 11. Jamie Benn, Ribeiro and Tomas Vincour scored for Dallas.

Kings 2, Red Wings 1

DETROIT (AP) - Dustin Brown scored with 5:17 remaining in the second period and Jonathan Quick made 28 saves for Los Angeles, 13-3-4 in its last 20 games.

Anze Kopitar also scored in the second after Darren Helm opened the scoring for the Red Wings in the first.

The Kings continued their push in the middle of a jumbled race for playoff positions in the West. Detroit has lost four straight and trails Vancouver by nine points for the top spot in the Western Conference.

Ducks 5, Rangers 2

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Corey Perry and Lubomir Visnovsky each had two goals and an assist, Bobby Ryan added a goal and three assists and the Anaheim Ducks beat the New York Rangers 5-2 on Wednesday night.

Visnovsky, who last Friday against Dallas became the first defenseman in franchise history to get a hat trick, increased his points total to 54 - tying Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom and Phoenix's Keith Yandle for the NHL lead at the position. Visnovsky had a career-high 67 points in 2005-06 for Los Angeles.

Dan Ellis made 30 saves, improving to 4-1-1 since joining Anaheim in a trade from Tampa Bay on Feb. 24.

Brandon Dubinsky and Marion Gaborik scored for New York.

Thrashers 3, Hurricanes 2, OT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Tim Stapleton scored 1:38 into overtime, Rob Schremp and Tobias Enstrom had first-period goals and Ondrej Pavelec made 35 saves to help Atlanta snap its road losing streak at six.

Erik Cole and Troy Bodie scored for Carolina. The Hurricanes earned a point for getting to overtime to move into a tie with Buffalo for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Atlanta is five points behind the Hurricanes and Sabres.

Blues 4, Blue Jackets 3, OT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Chris Stewart flicked in a backhander 54 seconds into overtime to cap St. Louis' comeback from a three-goal deficit. He also scored the trying goal early in the third period.

Ian Cole had a goal and an assist and Alex Pietrangelo also scored for the Blues, who beat the Blue Jackets twice in 48 hours after losing their previous four games. Jaroslav Halak, returning after missing 11 games because of a cracked bone in his hand, made 19 saves. Jake Voracek, R.J. Umberger and Derek MacKenzie scored for Columbus. The Blue Jackets have dropped six in a row.

Upcoming Events