Thursday's NHL Capsules

Games played March 28, 2013

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Pascal Dupuis scored twice and Evgeni Malkin had a goal in his return to the lineup, leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night for their 14th straight win.

Chris Kunitz had a goal and an assist and Sidney Crosby had two assists to push his league-best points total to 56 as the Penguins moved within three victories of its own NHL record for consecutive wins. Malkin, back from an upper-body injury, got his first goal in three weeks.

Tomas Vokoun had 20 saves and his first assist while getting his 50th career shutout.

Al Montoya, making just his fourth start of the season, made 39 saves for Winnipeg but the Jets were no match for the NHL's hottest team.

The league record for consecutive wins was set by the Mario Lemieux-led Penguins in 1992-93. Pittsburgh hosts the New York Islanders on Saturday and Buffalo next Tuesday. If the Penguins win those games, they'll head to New York to face the Rangers on April 3 with a chance to tie the mark.

SENATORS 3, RANGERS 0

OTTAWA (AP) - Ben Bishop turned aside 24 shots to earn his second career NHL shutout, leading Ottawa to a win over New York.

Andre Benoit, Guillaume Latendresse and Colin Greening scored for the Senators, and Mika Zibanejad and Chris Neil chipped in with two assists apiece.

Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves for the Rangers.

When the Senators finally relieved the pressure after about a minute, they went down ice and Latendresse beat Lundqvist with a low shot from the faceoff circle. Greening scored into an empty net with just over two minutes to play.

CANUCKS 4, AVALANCHE 1

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Daniel Sedin scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and added an assist, and Alex Burrows also had a goal and an assist as Vancouver beat Colorado.

Sedin took a feed from Burrows at the top of the left circle and sent a low wrist shot through Semyon Varlamov's legs - with twin brother Henrik Sedin screening in front - at 11:32 of the third to give Vancouver a 2-1 lead.

Sedin assisted on Burrows' first-period goal, putting him two points behind his team-leading brother at 30 points. Henrik Sedin and Chris Higgins each had empty-net goals for the Canucks.

Matt Duchene scored for Colorado, which is tied for the fewest points in the NHL.

KINGS 4, BLUES 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Mike Richards scored the go-ahead goal with 2:43 to play, Jonathan Quick made 20 saves and Los Angeles continued its dominance of St. Louis.

Dustin Brown had a goal and an assist, and Trevor Lewis and Justin Williams also scored for the Kings. Jarret Stoll assisted on Lewis' goal, giving him 100 with Los Angeles.

The win gives the Kings only their second sweep of a season series against St. Louis after first doing it in 2005-06. Los Angeles has beaten the Blues eight straight times, including a 4-0 sweep in last season's Western Conference semifinals.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored both goals and Jaroslav Halak made 36 saves for the Blues.

SHARKS 2, RED WINGS 0

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Antii Niemi made 27 saves for his second shutout in two nights and San Jose won its third straight game in regulation with a victory over Detroit.

Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns each scored for the third consecutive game for the Sharks, who are on their longest winning streak since starting the season with seven straight wins.

San Jose had won just three of its previous 25 games in regulation before this current streak that started with a home-and-home sweep of first-place Anaheim and ended with this shutout.

The Sharks have moved from ninth place to seventh in the West with the three wins this week, all coming after bruising defender Douglas Murray was dealt to Pittsburgh for two draft picks.

MAPLE LEAFS 6, HURRICANES 3

TORONTO (AP) - Joffrey Lupul scored the go-ahead goal with 3:10 remaining, helping Toronto hold off a Carolina comeback and beat the Hurricanes.

Lupul raced past Joe Corvo and beat Justin Peters for his seventh goal this season.

Jay McClement sealed it with his sixth of the season on an empty-netter with 45 seconds to go before Nikolai Kulemin added his sixth with 3 seconds left - also into an empty net.

Tyler Bozak, Cody Franson and Dion Phaneuf also scored for Toronto.

Eric Staal, Jordan Staal and Alexander Semin scored for the Hurricanes, who rallied from a 2-0 hole for a 3-2 lead early in the third before extending their winless streak to seven games.

COYOTES 7, PREDATORS 4

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Radim Vrbata had two goals and an assist, Rostislav Klesla added four assists and Phoenix scored six times in the opening period to cruise to a win over Nashville.

Martin Hanzal, David Moss, Matthew Lombardi, Keith Yandle and Antoine Vermette also scored for the Coyotes, who snapped a seven-game losing streak - thanks to their big first period that included five goals in a span of 6:40.

The Coyotes' seven goals were just one short of the number they had in the entirety of their skid. Phoenix has 10 goals the last two nights after being outscored 16-5 in the previous six games.

David Legwand, Rich Clune, Gabriel Bourque, and Shea Weber scored for Nashville.

ISLANDERS 4, FLYERS 3, SO

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Colin McDonald scored two goals, Josh Bailey tallied the clinching score in the shootout and New York beat Philadelphia for its fourth straight road win.

John Tavares also scored for the Islanders, who improved to 10-4-1 away from home this season to pull into a tie with the Rangers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Scott Hartnell scored twice and Mike Knuble also had a goal for the Flyers, who blew a two-goal lead while falling further out of the playoff hunt. Philadelphia last missed the playoffs in 2007.

The Isles, who last made the playoffs in 2007, dominated the final two periods of regulation after falling behind 2-0 in the first.

PANTHERS 5, SABRES 4, SO

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) - Jonathan Huberdeau and Mike Santorelli scored in the shootoout to lift Florida to a win over Buffalo.

Santorelli got the winner for the Panthers, while Jason Pominville scored for Buffalo.

Shawn Matthias had two goals in regulation, and Jonathan Huberdeau and Tomas Fleischmann also scored for the Panthers, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Jacob Markstrom made 36 saves.

Marcus Foligno, Drew Stafford, Andrej Sekera and Nathan Gerbe scored for the Sabres, and Ryan Miller stopped 36 shots.

Huberdeau tied the score at 4 with 6:09 remaining in the third period.

OILERS 6, BLUE JACKETS 4

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Ales Hemsky scored the go-ahead goal with 3:08 remaining, leading Edmonton over Columbus.

Shortly after a huge save by goalie Devan Dubnyk, Hemsky took the puck down the length of the ice and danced around several defenders before getting a highlight-reel goal past Sergei Bobrovsky.

Sam Gagner had a goal and three assists to help the Oilers move into a tie for 11th place in the Western with Columbus. Magnus Paajarvi, Jordan Eberle, Shawn Horcoff and Corey Pottera also scored.

Cam Atkinson scored a pair for the Blue Jackets, who have lost three in a row after going 8-0-4 in their previous 12 games. Matt Calvert and Artem Anisimov had the other goals.

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