Alexander Ovechkin finished off an exceptional game by teaming with Alexander Semin to beat Pittsburgh goalie Ty Conklin with backhanders in the shootout and the visiting Washington Capitals came from behind for a 6-5 victory last night.
Ovechkin and Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin had two goals and an assist apiece in a matchup of Russian stars.
But Malkin never got the puck in the shootout. Coach Michel Therrien went with three other shooters, with only Jarkko Ruutu beating goalie Olaf Kolzig.
Pittsburgh couldn't get the winning goal despite having a rare two-man advantage for a little more than a minute in overtime and being on the power play for nearly three minutes of the five-minute extra period.
Ryan Malone put the Penguins up, 5-4, about five minutes into the third, tipping in Sergei Gonchar's shot from between the circles.
Viktor Kozlov answered with 5 1/2 minutes remaining in regulation for the Capitals with his second of the game and eighth of the season, with Niklas Backstrom getting his fourth assist of the contest.
Hurricanes 3, Islanders 2 - Defensemen Mike Commodore and Niclas Wallin scored in the third period, and Cory Stillman had the power-play winner in overtime for visiting Carolina.
New York carried a 2-0 lead into the third period, but Commodore and Wallin each broke 11-game goal droughts to get the Hurricanes even.
Stillman took a pass in front from Eric Staal, during Andy Sutton's cross-checking penalty, and scored past Rick DiPietro with a second whack 52 seconds into overtime.
New York, which blew a two-goal lead for the second straight game, is 3-3-4 in its last 10.
Andy Hilbert and Miroslav Satan scored second-period goals for the Islanders.
Carolina's Cam Ward stopped 23 shots.
Coyotes 6, Sabres 2 - Shane Doan skated through defenders to score one of three Phoenix goals in a span of just over 5 1/2 minutes of the second period and the Coyotes handed Buffalo its franchise-record eighth consecutive road loss.
Doan, who also had an assist, extended his career-best points streak to 11 games. Six Coyotes scored as the team matched its highest-scoring game of the season.
Niko Kapanen and Derek Morris also scored in the second-period barrage against backup Buffalo goalie Jocelyn Thibault. Peter Mueller, Phoenix's 19-year-old center, scored his 13th goal.
Daniel Winnik and Ed Jovanovski also scored for Phoenix. Paul Gaustad and Thomas Vanek had goals for Buffalo.
Predators 6, Blues 3 - Alexander Radulov had two goals and an assist as host Nashville held off slumping St. Louis.
Martin Gelinas also scored twice for Nashville, which improved to 7-2-2 in its last 11 games. Chris Mason finished with 31 saves.
Brad Boyes, Dan Hinote, and Keith Tkachuk scored for the Blues, who have lost five straight.
Boyes put St. Louis in front with his 27th goal of the season at the 3:56 mark in the first.
Wild 4, Canucks 2 - Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored twice, including the go-ahead goal midway through the second period, and had two assists, leading Minnesota over host Vancouver.
Brian Rolston and Mikko Koivu also scored, and Niklas Backstrom made 38 saves as Minnesota moved into first place in the tight Northwest Division, one point ahead of Calgary and Colorado, and two up on slumping Vancouver.
