WASHINGTON (AP) - Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice during a three-point night and Aleksander Barkov had a goal and an assist to help the Florida Panthers beat the Washington Capitals 5-2 Tuesday in a matchup of Eastern Conference division leaders.
The Atlantic Division-leading Panthers also got a goal from Vincent Trocheck, an empty-netter from Quinton Howden and 36 saves from backup goalie Al Montoya as they won their fourth game in a row. They took advantage of backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer and the absence of Washington star Alex Ovechkin, who was required to sit out after missing the NHL All-Star Game with an injury.
Florida scored on two of its four power plays while the Capitals went 0 for 8 in a game full of whistles. Nicklas Backstrom and Andre Burakovsky scored for Washington.
OILERS 5, BLUE JACKETS 1
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists in his return from a nearly three-month absence and Edmonton beat Columbus to end a three-game skid.
Eric Gryba, Benoit Pouliot, Leon Draisaitl and Jordan Eberle also scored for the Oilers, and Cam Talbot made 36 saves.
McDavid, the first-overall pick in the 2015 NHL draft, was shelved by a broken clavicle on Nov. 3 after a promising start to his pro career. He missed 37 games.
McDavid scored a highlight-reel goal in the second period. He danced through two defenders and beat Joonas Korpisalo with a backhand-to-forehand deke for his sixth goal of the season and a 2-1 lead.
Matt Calvert scored for the Blue Jackets, and Columbus had a two-game winning streak come to an end.
PENGUINS 6, SENATORS 5
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Sidney Crosby scored three straight goals for his first natural hat trick in more than five years, and Pittsburgh opened the second half of the season with a 6-5 win over Ottawa.
The two-time NHL MVP pushed his goal total to 20 and has scored at least one in Pittsburgh's last eight home games. The Penguins have won four straight and lost in regulation just once since Jan. 6.
Chris Kunitz had a goal and two assists. Kris Letang added a goal and an assist, and Matt Cullen also scored for Pittsburgh. The Penguins' six goals were a season high. Marc-Andre Fleury settled down after a shaky start and finished with 18 saves.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Mark Stone, Cody Ceci, Chris Wideman and Dave Dziurzynski scored for the Senators. Craig Anderson made 38 stops.
BLACKHAWKS 2, AVALANCHE 1
DENVER (AP) - Corey Crawford stopped 22 shots, Richard Panik and Artemi Panarin scored and Chicago beat Colorado without captain Jonathan Toews.
NHL-scoring leader Patrick Kane added an assist with Toews suspended a game by the league for pulling out of All-Star weekend. Toews cited an illness.
Gabriel Landeskog scored the only goal for Colorado, which was missing starting goalie Semyon Varlamov. He wrapped up a civil lawsuit filed against him by a former girlfriend, with a jury ruling in his favor late Tuesday and awarding Varlamov approximately $126,000 in damages.
Calvin Pickard gave up two early goals before settling into a rhythm. He stopped 40 shots.
DUCKS 3, SHARKS 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Ryan Garbutt, Hampus Lindholm and Rickard Rakell scored to send the Anaheim Ducks past the San Jose Sharks 3-2 on Tuesday night for their fourth consecutive victory.
Frederik Andersen stopped 30 shots for Anaheim, which has climbed back into playoff contention with an 11-3-1 record since Christmas.
Tommy Wingels and Dainius Zubrus scored for San Jose, and Martin Jones made 24 saves. The Sharks' streak of earning at least one point in 10 straight games ended, as did Joe Thornton's run of 10 games in a row with a goal or an assist.
KINGS 6, COYOTES 2
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Dustin Brown scored twice and Jake Muzzin and Alec Martinez each added a goal and an assist to lead Los Angeles over Arizona.
Marian Gaborik and Brown scored 12 seconds apart late in the second period, with Gaborik's goal coming off a turnover when Arizona defenseman Kevin Connauton's stick broke on a shot attempt. Brown fired in a shot from beyond the blue line at 18:59 for a 4-2 lead, and the Kings spoiled the 1,000th game as head coach for the Coyotes' Dave Tippett.
Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty had two assists apiece for the Pacific Division leaders, who won for the second time in five games. Jonathan Quick stopped 23 shots.
BLUES 1, PREDATORS 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Troy Brouwer scored with 1:05 remaining in the third period and Brian Elliott made 16 saves to give St. Louis a victory over Nashville.
St. Louis has won all four matchups between the teams this season.
Coming off his first All-Star Game appearance, Pekka Rinne made 22 saves in defeat. The Predators had won a season-best four straight.
On the game's only goal, Robby Fabbri carried the puck around the net and found Alex Pietrangelo just inside the top of the right circle. Pietrangelo fired a one-timer toward the Nashville net, and Brouwer was in front to deflect the puck past Rinne.
STARS 5, JETS 3
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) - Tyler Seguin scored twice, John Klingberg had a goal and an assist and Dallas held on to beat Winnipeg.
Vernon Fiddler and Antoine Roussel also scored for Dallas, and Antti Niemi stopped 21 shots.
Andrew Ladd, Adam Lowry and Dustin Byfuglien scored for Winnipeg, and Connor Hellebuyck made 22 saves.
Seguin scored for the first time in five games and Klingberg had gone eight games without a goal.
Seguin scored 2:49 into the third period to put Dallas ahead 4-2. Byfuglien got his goal with 9:46 left, but Roussel scored an empty-netter with Hellebuyck pulled and 42 seconds left.
DEVILS 3, RANGERS 2
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - David Schlemko scored on a power play with 8:46 left and New Jersey rallied twice to beat New York.
Lee Stempniak and Joseph Blandisi also scored, Cory Schneider made 31 saves and the surprising Devils beat the Rangers for the second straight time this season. It was their fifth win in six games and moved them within two points of New York for second place in the Metropolitan Division.
J.T. Miller scored twice for New York, which came within a goalpost of tying it on a shot by Ryan McDonagh. Henrik Lundqvist made 22 saves.
The game was decided by special teams. The Devils were 2 for 2 with the extra skater and they killed off all four Rangers power plays.
ISLANDERS 5, WILD 3
NEW YORK (AP) - Brock Nelson's team-leading 20th goal broke a tie late in the second period, Jean-Francois Berube made 40 saves for his first NHL win and New York beat Minnesota.
Mikhail Grabovski and John Tavares each had a goal and an assist, and Anders Lee and Frans Nielsen also scored for the Islanders.
Charlie Coyle, Jason Pominville and Nino Niederreiter had the goals for the Wild, who have lost eight of their last nine (1-7-1). Devan Dubnyk gave up five goals on 30 shots, and Darcy Kuemper stopped all eight shots he faced.
After the Islanders took a 2-1 lead on goals by Grabovski and Lee early in the second, Pominville tied it with 1:34 left in the period. Nelson put New York back ahead for good with 42 seconds remaining.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, BRUINS 3, OT
BOSTON (AP) - Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau scored a power-play goal with 1:54 left in overtime and Toronto rallied to beat Boston and end a four-game skid.
Leo Komarov and Nazem Kadri erased a two-goal deficit with consecutive goals for Toronto midway through the third period. The Leafs won for the first time since Jan. 19.
Daniel Winnik also scored for Toronto and James Reimer had 39 saves. Reimer didn't let anything in after Brad Marchand and David Krejci scored 26 seconds apart in the opening minutes of the third period.
Marchand also scored in the first period. David Pastrnak added two assists for the Bruins and Tuukka Rask stopped 31 shots.
FLYERS 4, CANADIENS 2
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Wayne Simmonds scored two goals and led Philadelphia to a win over Montreal.
Simmonds snapped a tie in the third period with his 16th of the season, sparking the Flyers to the second-half start they needed as they make a playoff push.
Brayden Schenn also scored for the Flyers. Matt Read added an empty-netter in the final seconds and Steve Mason stopped 30 shots.
Andrei Markov and Jeff Petry scored for Montreal.