Saturday's NHL Capsules

Games played on Dec. 27, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) - Derek Stepan scored a pair of special-teams goals and completed a hat trick into an empty net, Henrik Lundqvist made 19 saves in his 600th NHL contest, and the New York Rangers won their eighth consecutive game, 3-1, spoiling the debut of the New Jersey Devils' revamped coaching staff on Saturday night.

Stepan netted an unassisted short-handed goal in the first period, and a power-play tally in the second for the Rangers (19-10-4), who have won 12 of 14 and earned at least one point in 22 of 29 (18-7-4).

Stepan's empty-netter with 54.6 seconds left clinched the victory and his third NHL hat trick.

Lundqvist, second to Mike Richter (666) in goalie games played with the Rangers, has a franchise record 325 wins. He tied his personal best winning streak of seven games and became the ninth NHL goalie to play 600 games with one team.

BLUE JACKETS 6, BRUINS 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Kevin Connauton had a goal and two assists and the Blue Jackets scored four times in the second period for a win against the Bruins.

Scott Hartnell, in his first game back after missing five games with a broken finger, scored the Blue Jackets' first two goals for a 2-1 lead early in the second. Nick Foligno and Connauton made it 4-1 before Craig Cunningham scored for the Bruins (18-15-3). Matt Calvert regained the three-goal lead with 51 seconds left in the second.

Jeremy Morin added a goal for Columbus in the third.

Patrice Bergeron scored in the first period for the Bruins, 20 seconds after Hartnell had given the Blue Jackets (15-16-3) a 1-0 advantage.

Columbus backup goalie Curtis McElhinney made 26 saves.

SABRES 4, ISLANDERS 3, SO

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Tyler Ennis scored in a shootout in the Sabres' victory over the Islanders.

The Sabres overcame a 3-0 deficit, with Nicolas Deslauriers, Zemgus Girgensons and Chris Stewart scoring in the third period to spoil Kevin Poulin's shutout bid.

John Tavares scored twice, and Nick Leddy added a goal for the Islanders.

Poulin was recalled from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League on Tuesday after Jaroslav Halak sustained a lower-body injury.

The Sabres snapped a four-game losing streak in sending New York to its second consecutive loss.

LIGHTNING 2, HURRICANES 1

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Ben Bishop made 25 saves in his return from an injury and the Lightning beat the Hurricanes.

Bishop, who had missed the previous four games due to a lower body injury, lost his bid for his second shutout this season and 10th overall with 5:56 to play on Andrej Sekera's goal. The goalie is 5-0 with two shutouts against Carolina.

Tampa Bay got goals from Nikita Kucherov and Alex Killorn.

Bishop made a post to post pad save on John-Michael Liles' in-close shot with 7 minutes left in the first.

Cam Ward stopped 36 shots for the Hurricanes, who are 2-8-1 in their last 11 games. Carolina, with just 71 goals in 35 games this season, has dropped nine of its last 10 games against the Lightning.

RED WINGS 3, SENATORS 2, OT

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - Gustav Nyquist scored at 4:12 of overtime to lift the Red Wings to a win over the Senators.

Nyquist circled the Senators' net, carrying the puck around their zone for 10-12 seconds before launching a shot from the slot for the game winner.

The Red Wings (19-8-9) got their other goals from Justin Abdelkader and Henrik Zetterberg, but it was the work of netminder Jimmy Howard and his 31 saves that avoided a Detroit loss in regulation. He stopped Ottawa's Erik Karlsson on a breakaway early in the overtime period to help keep the game tied.

Mike Hoffman and Clarke MacArthur scored in regulation for the Senators (14-14-7) while Craig Anderson turned aside 24 shots.

JETS 4, WILD 3, OT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Andrew Ladd scored a fluky goal in overtime and the Jets beat the Wild.

Bryan Little, Adam Lowry and Blake Wheeler also scored for the Jets, winners in four of five, and are 4-1-1 in their past six and 7-1-3 in the past 11.

Michael Hutchinson made 22 saves.

Mikael Granlund, Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek scored for Minnesota, which has lost five straight and is 1-3-3 in its past seven.

CAPITALS 3, PENGUINS 0

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Goaltender Braden Holtby stopped 31 shots and Eric Fehr scored two goals as the Capitals defeated the Penguins.

Fehr, who scored twice during the Capitals' win in the 2011 Winter Classic at Pittsburgh, did it again on Saturday with his eighth and ninth goals of the year. Marcus Johansson got his 10th for the Capitals, who won for the fifth time in seven games.

Washington also defeated Pittsburgh for the first time since January 22, 2012, a span of nine games.

BLACKHAWKS 5, AVALANCHE 2

DENVER (AP) - Patrick Kane scored twice and Corey Crawford stopped 23 shots, leading the Central Division-leading Blackhawks to a win over the Avalanche.

Brandon Saad and Brent Seabrook also scored for the Blackhawks, while Patrick Sharp celebrated his 33rd birthday with a game-sealing goal in the third period. Kane added an empty-net goal with 5.4 seconds remaining.

Nathan MacKinnon and Erik Johnson had goals for the Avalanche as their three-game win streak was snapped.

PREDATORS 4, FLYERS 1

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Colin Wilson scored two goals to lead the Predators to a win over the Flyers.

Filip Forsberg and Mike Fisher also scored for Nashville, winners of four of their last five.

Philadelphia captain Claude Giroux had the lone goal for the Flyers, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

Forsberg scored the game's first goal at 9:41 of the opening period.

With Nashville on a power play, Forsberg's wrist shot beat Philadelphia goaltender Ray Emery on the glove side.

Nashville is 12-1-1 when scoring first this season. Giroux tied the game at 6:50 of the second with a wrist shot from the right circle with the Flyers on a 2-on-1 break.

Fisher and Wilson scored power-play goals 38 seconds apart late in the second.

STARS 4, BLUES 3

ST. LOUIS (AP) - The Stars seized control with power-play goals from Trevor Daley and Jason Demers in the second period and held on to beat the Blues.

The Stars (15-14-5) have won five of their last six. Dallas had a four-game win streak snapped with a loss to Toronto on Tuesday.

The Blues (21-11-3) have lost four straight games. They lost in Los Angeles, San Jose and Colorado during a recent three-game road trip.

COYOTES 2, DUCKS 1

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Shane Doan scored the only goal in the shootout with a broken stick, Devan Dubnyk stopped 36 shots and the Coyotes beat the Ducks.

Arizona played well in its own end against one of the NHL's most explosive teams and Dubnyk made some big saves when Anaheim picked up the pressure in the third period.

After both teams failed to score in the first three rounds of the shootout, Doan broke his stick while shooting on Frederik Andersen, sending the puck trickling toward the right post. Thrown off by the stick and slow-moving puck, Andersen couldn't react in time to stop the puck from sneaking over the line.

Zbynek Michalek also scored for Arizona, which has won consecutive games for the first time since beating Vancouver and Edmonton on Nov. 14 and 16.

Andersen stopped 28 shots and Rene Bourque scored for Ducks, who are 17-0-6 in one-goal games this season.

FLAMES 4, OILERS 1

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Rookie Johnny Gaudreau continued his torrid scoring Saturday night with two goals to lead Calgary over Edmonton.

Gaudreau's goals came 16 seconds apart early in the first period as the Flames blew the game open with three goals in less than two minutes. Coming off a natural hat trick in Tuesday's comeback victory over Los Angeles, the 21-year-old has six goals in his last three games and eight in his last 10. Gaudreau is second in rookie scoring with 29 points, five behind the leader, Nashville's Filip Forsberg.

Joe Colborne and Curtis Glencross also scored for Calgary (19-15-3), which has won consecutive games after ending an eight-game winless skid.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored the lone goal for Edmonton (7-22-7), which is winless in their last nine (0-7-2).

KINGS 3, SHARKS 1

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Anze Kopitar and Jake Muzzin scored power-play goals, Jonathan Quick made 21 saves and Los Angeles returned from the holiday break with a victory over San Jose.

Tyler Toffoli also scored in the defending Stanley Cup champions' third victory in four games. The Kings gave a dominant defensive effort in their NHL lead-tying 14th home win, avenging a 4-0 loss to the Sharks on opening night that dampened their championship banner-raising ceremony.

Joe Pavelski scored his 17th goal and Antti Niemi stopped 26 shots for the Sharks, who lost in regulation for just the second time since Nov. 26.

Los Angeles pulled even with its upstate rivals into second place in the Pacific Division standings.