Montreal blanked by Theodore

Jose Theodore tried to downplay the importance of his shutout against his old Montreal Canadiens teammates.

Theodore, who spent parts of 10 seasons with Montreal before being traded to Colorado in March 2006, made 28 saves for his first shutout with Washington in the Capitals' 3-0 victory over the visiting Canadiens last night.

"I knew in the first period I was seeing the puck well," said Theodore, who has 26 career shutouts. "Even if I didn't see a lot of shots early, I knew I would need a good shot to beat me."

Theodore's second game against Montreal was a lot better than his first. He allowed eight goals in a loss to the Canadiens on Oct. 21, 2006, with Colorado.

Alex Ovechkin, Tomas Fleischmann, and David Steckel scored to help the Capitals win their seventh straight at home - the longest streak since also winning seven in a row from Nov. 17-Dec. 16, 2000.

Red Wings 5, Blue Jackets 3 - Marian Hossa scored his second goal of the game with two minutes left to help host Detroit beat Columbus.

Henrik Zetterberg had a goal and an assist, Jiri Hudler and Kris Draper also scored, Pavel Datsyuk added two assists, and Chris Osgood made 13 saves.

Fedor Tyutin scored twice for Columbus, Jakub Voracek added a goal, and Pascal Leclaire stopped 30 shots.

Sabres 4, Penguins 3 - Paul Gaustad broke a tie with his second goal, and Drew Stafford had two goals and an assist in host Buffalo's comeback victory over Pittsburgh.

Gaustad's second came with 3:24 to go in regulation and sent the Sabres to their second straight win after losing five in a row.

Sidney Crosby scored twice, and Tyler Kennedy added a goal for Pittsburgh (13-6-3).

Rangers 4, Panthers 3 - Markus Naslund and Nikolai Zherdev scored in a shootout to lift visiting New York past Florida.

Henrik Lundqvist allowed Rostislav Olesz's goal in the tiebreaker, then stopped the final two attempts to improve to 5-1 in shootouts this season.

Lundqvist made 38 saves in regulation and overtime, and Zherdev, Dan Fritsche, and Aaron Voros scored in regulation for New York.

Sharks 6, Stars 2 - Dan Boyle scored two goals, Evgeni Nabokov made 25 saves, and league-leading San Jose won in Dallas. San Jose (19-3-1) added to its best start in franchise history by winning for the sixth time in a row.

Hurricanes 3, Flyers 2 - Sergei Samsonov scored with 1:07 left in overtime and visiting Carolina ended Philadelphia's six-game winning streak and his team's three-game slide.

Coyotes 2, Avalanche 1 - Mikael Tellqvist stopped 37 shots in his second consecutive start as host Phoenix beat Colorado.

Derek Morris and Kevin Porter scored and Enver Lisin added a pair of assists for Phoenix.

Wild 4, Lightning 2 - Marc-Andre Bergeron assisted on third-period goals by James Sheppard and Mikko Koivu as host Minnesota rallied to beat Tampa Bay.

Ducks 1, Blackhawks 0 - Jonas Hiller made 26 saves and Ryan Getzlaf scored late in the second period for host Anaheim.

Predators 4, Thrashers 3 - Ryan Suter beat Johan Hedberg on a breakaway 1:44 into overtime to lift visiting Nashville.