Alexander Ovechkin had four goals and an assist to lead the Washington Capitals to an 8-6 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
The Russian star, who needed stitches to close a left leg cut one night earlier, scored a power-play goal 4:45 in to put Washington up 2-0. He added another early in the second before completing his first hat trick of the season in the third.
Michael Nylander scored twice for Washington. Mike Fisher had a hat trick for Ottawa, drawing the Senators within 7-6 with his third goal of the third period with 2:05 remaining.
Ovechkin got his 30th goal of the season for his first career four-goal game on an empty net with 27.6 seconds remaining.
Wild 5, Oilers 4, OT
At St. Paul, Petteri Nummelin capped a Minnesota comeback from three goals down by scoring on an overtime power play to send the Wild to a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Brent Burns tapped in the tying goal with 5:16 left in regulation for the Wild, who trailed 4-1 late in the second period.
Joni Pitkanen and Jarret Stoll scored short-handed goals for the offense-starved Oilers, whose losing streak reached five.
Kings 3, Avalanche 1
At Denver, Derek Armstrong and Scott Thornton scored goals 1:17 apart in the third period and Los Angeles broke an eight-game losing streak.
The Kings had only 10 shots on goal through the first two periods, but picked up the pace in the final 20 minutes, peppering Jose Theodore with 13 shots.
Jean-Sebastien Aubin stopped 29 shots for the Kings, including a skate save on a wrist shot by Jaroslav Hlinka late in the final period.
Penguins 2, Sabres 0
At Pittsburgh, Ty Conklin, in the minors a month ago, won his fourth in a row and Sidney Crosby set up both goals.
In the front end of a back-to-back series that ends with Tuesday's much-hyped Winter Classic outdoor game before the largest crowd in NHL history in Buffalo, this was no classic.
Conklin, a Buffalo backup briefly last season, made 26 saves in his second win in three days and his first shutout since Jan. 3, 2006.
Colby Armstrong and Evgeni Malkin scored for the Penguins, who won their 12th in 17 games since they were a season-worst 8-11-2 six weeks ago.
Rangers 6, Maple Leafs 1
At Toronto, Petr Prucha powered the suddenly potent New York power play, scoring two of the Rangers' season-high five with the man advantage.
Jaromir Jagr had a goal and three assists, linemate Martin Straka had one of each, Brendan Shanahan added a power-play tally, and Blair Betts scored for the first time in 12 games as the Rangers enjoyed their biggest scoring outburst of the season.
In other games it was:
* Islanders 5, Devils 2
* Blue Jackets 4, Hurricanes 1
* Thrashers 5, Bruins 0
* Stars 5, Blues 4, SO
* Flyers 4, Lightning 2
* Sharks 5, Predators 2
* Red Wings 4, Coyotes 2
* Flames 5, Ducks 3
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB