Saturday's NHL Capsules

Games played on Dec. 20, 2014

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Derrick Pouliot scored in his NHL debut and Sidney Crosby ended his drought with a third-period goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins in their 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Saturday night.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 45 shots for his fifth win in six games and 19th overall.

Pouliot, a prized prospect on defense, scored the eventual game-winner in the first period after he was recalled on Saturday. Nick Spaling netted his fifth for the Penguins, who won a season-high fifth straight game at home.

Pittsburgh has defeated Florida in 12 of the last 14 meetings at home and 21 of 29 overall.

Pittsburgh native Vincent Trocheck, a healthy scratch the previous two games, scored his third of the season for the Panthers, who went to overtime in their previous four games.

Crosby scored his 10th goal of the season and first in nine games. Crosby, who missed three games with the mumps, remains among the league leaders in scoring despite recording just three points in his last seven games.

KINGS 4, COYOTES 2

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Kings defenseman Alec Martinez scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period during a power play, Marian Gaborik also connected with the man advantage for his sixth goal in four games, and Los Angeles beat Arizona.

Jeff Carter and Trevor Lewis also scored and Jonathan Quick made 15 saves for the defending Stanley Cup champions on the third anniversary of the day Darryl Sutter was hired as coach. Anze Kopitar, who set a career high for points with a goal and four assists Thursday night in a 6-4 win over St. Louis, had three assists against the Coyotes.

Martin Hanzal and Kyle Chipchura scored for Arizona, and Devan Dubnyk stopped 31 shots.

ISLANDERS 3, LIGHTNING 1

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) - John Tavares and Anders Lee scored 12 seconds apart in the third period, and New York stunned Tampa Bay with a late comeback.

Shut down nearly all night by first-year goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, the Islanders stormed back in the closing minutes after falling behind 1-0 on Brett Connolly's goal 9:16 into the third.

Tavares tied it with 3:09 remaining, scoring from the slot while being knocked to the ice, and Lee put New York in front when he deflected in Travis Hamonic's shot. Nikolay Kulemin sealed it with 1:11 left on an empty-net goal.

Jaroslav Halak made 20 saves for the Islanders, who have won four straight.

With No. 1 goalie Ben Bishop out for the third straight game, Vasilevskiy stopped 45 shots in his second NHL appearance. Tampa Bay is 2-5-1 in its past eight games.

BLUE JACKETS 3, BLACKHAWKS 2, SO

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Jack Johnson scored the winner in the ninth round of a shootout and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 39 shots in regulation and eight in the tiebreaker to give Columbus a victory over Chicago.

Johnson faked a forehand and then jammed in a backhand before Bobrovsky clinched the win by blocking Bryan Bickell's low attempt.

It was the sixth game in a row to go past regulation for the Blue Jackets, who have a nine-game point streak (8-0-1).

Jack Skille and Kevin Connauton scored goals for Columbus. Patrick Sharp and Ben Smith tallied for the Blackhawks, and Corey Crawford made 17 saves.

The Blue Jackets ended a 13-game losing streak (0-10-3) to the Blackhawks.

AVALANCHE 5, SABRES 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Alex Tanguay scored twice and Calvin Pickard made 28 saves as Colorado beat Buffalo.

The Avalanche also got goals from Cody McLeod, John Mitchell and Erik Johnson in ending a two-game skid.

Last-minute call-up Johan Larsson scored his first NHL goal for the Sabres, who had won six straight home games.

Colorado has won its last eight against Buffalo dating to 2005.

CAPITALS 4, DEVILS 0

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Braden Holtby made 21 saves, Nicklas Backstrom had two goals and an assist and Washington rolled past New Jersey.

Alex Ovechkin added a spectacular unassisted goal and defenseman Mike Green also scored as the Capitals extended their point streak to eight games (6-0-2).

The shutout was the second of the season for Holtby, who has started every game in the Capitals' current run. He is now 11-3-3 in his last 17 starts.

Cory Schneider had 17 saves for the Devils, who again failed to win consecutive games for the first time since the middle of last month. New Jersey is now 3-8-4 in its last 15 games.

RANGERS 3, HURRICANES 2, SO

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Mats Zuccarrello scored in the shootout to lift New York to its fifth straight win.

Henrik Lundqvist made 18 saves before stopping all three Carolina shooters in the tiebreaker.

Kevin Kline tied it with 2:23 remaining and J.T. Miller also scored in the third period for the Rangers, who have earned at least one point in nine straight games against Metropolitan Division opponents.

Jeff Skinner and Chris Terry scored for Carolina, and Cam Ward made 32 saves.

Zuccarrello beat Ward with a wrist shot for the only goal of the shootout. Lundqvist stopped Skinner and Nathan Gerbe before gloving Terry's backhand to end it.

FLYERS 7, MAPLE LEAFS 4

TORONTO (AP) - Claude Giroux had two goals and two assists, Jakub Voracek added four assists to take the NHL scoring lead and Philadelphia handed Toronto its second straight loss after a six-game win streak.

Voracek has 14 goals and 28 assists for 42 points in 32 games.

R.J. Umberger, Sean Couturier, Nicklas Grossman, Scott Laughton and Michael Raffl also scored for the Flyers, and Ray Emery made 21 saves.

Joffrey Lupul, James van Riemsdyk, David Clarkson and Peter Holland scored for Toronto. Jonathan Bernier stopped 34 shots, and James Riemer made one save on one shot in 10:28 of relief.

CANADIENS 4, SENATORS 1

MONTREAL (AP) - Brendan Gallagher scored the tiebreaking goal in the second period and Carey Price stopped 24 shots to lead Montreal.

Brandon Prust, Tomas Plekanec and Alex Galchenyuk also scored for the Canadiens, who completed a 4-1-0 homestand.

Erik Condra scored for Ottawa and Robin Lehner stopped 25 shots. The Senators, coming off a 6-2 win at home over Anaheim on Friday night, dropped to 3-2-1 since Dave Cameron replaced Paul MacLean as head coach.

Gallagher got the go-ahead goal at 7:30 of the second as he finished off a 3-on-2 rush by shooting the puck into the open side of the net. Plekanec and Galchenyuk scored 44 seconds apart late in the third to seal the win.

PREDATORS 6, WILD 5, OT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Mattias Ekholm scored his first goal of the season 1:45 into overtime, lifting Pekka Rinne and Nashville over Minnesota.

Rinne made 22 saves for his NHL-leading 21st win.

Ekholm circled from behind the net and flipped a pretty wrist shot past Niklas Backstrom. The nice move silenced the crowd, which was cheering moments earlier when Thomas Vanek scored with 48 seconds left in the third period to send the game to overtime.

Predators rookie Filip Forsberg scored his 13th goal to put Nashville in front 1:48 into the third, and Roman Josi made it 5-3 less than eight minutes later. Craig Smith, Matt Cullen and Calle Jarnkrok also scored for the Predators.

Zach Parise had two goals for Minnesota, and Backstrom finished with 27 saves after replacing starter Darcy Kuemper, who had a rough first night back after missing a game with an illness. Kuemper allowed three first-period goals on 14 shots and was pulled for the third time in his last four home starts.

SHARKS 3, BLUES 2, OT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Brent Burns scored a power-play goal 4:22 into overtime, and San Jose rallied past St. Louis for its season-best fifth straight victory.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored with 21 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game for the Sharks. Joe Thornton dug the puck out of the corner before delivering the pass.

Steve Ott scored his first goal in 10 months late in the second period to put the Blues ahead. Patrick Berglund also scored for St. Louis.

Andrew Desjardins had a goal for the Sharks, and Antti Niemi made 18 saves.

CANUCKS 3, FLAMES 2, OT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Chris Tanev scored 18 seconds into overtime and Vancouver defeated skidding Calgary to snap a five-game losing streak.

Radim Vrbata and Yannick Weber scored in regulation for the Canucks. Ryan Miller made 26 saves in his first win since Dec. 2 at Washington.

Johnny Gaudreau and David Jones had the goals for Calgary, which has lost eight consecutive games. The Flames have also dropped eight straight in Vancouver since their last win on Dec. 23, 2011.