Chris Clark scored the deciding goal in the 11th round of the shootout, and backup goalie Semyon Varlamov came on in relief and carried the Washington Capitals to a 5-4 comeback victory over the New York Islanders on Wednesday.
Alexander Semin scored two regulation goals for the Capitals, who played their fourth straight game without top scorer Alex Ovechkin (upper body strain), and added one in the second round of the shootout.
Semin gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead just 8 seconds in, but the Islanders ended starting goalie Jose Theodore’s night with three quick goals. New York scored three times on five shots against Theodore. Varlamov stopped 25 of 26 shots and then sealed the win by denying Mark Streit’s shootout attempt in the 11th round.
DEVILS 3, DUCKS 1
At Newark, New Jersey, Jamie Langenbrunner and Zach Parise each had a goal and an assist, and Martin Brodeur made 31 saves as New Jersey extended their winning streak to six games by beating Anaheim.
David Clarkson also scored, and Andy Greene had two assists for the Devils, winners of three straight at home after dropping their first three there.
Corey Perry scored for the Ducks and Jonas Hiller made 22 saves.
RED WINGS 9, BLUE JACKETS 1
At Columbus, Ohio, Niklas Kronwall had two power-play goals and an assist and Detroit scored four times early in the first period in a win over Columbus.
Justin Abdelkader tallied two late goals, Dan Cleary, Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi each had a goal and assist, and Kris Draper and Ville Leino also scored for Detroit, who, despite major injuries to several key players, are 5-1-1 in their last seven games.
Henrik Zetterberg added two assists, and Jimmy Howard made 25 saves to improve to 2-2-1 for the Red Wings.
Rick Nash had the lone goal for Columbus.
KINGS 5, HURRICANES 2
At Raleigh, North Carolina, Randy Jones had a goal and an assist in his Los Angeles debut as the Kings extended Carolina’s winless streak to 13 games.
Wayne Simmonds, former Hurricane Justin Williams and Ryan Smyth each added a goal and an assist, Jarret Stoll also scored and Anze Kopitar had two assists to give him an NHL-leading 30 points.
The Kings scored three third-period goals and snapped their two-game losing streak.
Tuomo Ruutu scored twice for Carolina, and tied it at 2-2 with just under 16 minutes remaining.
SABRES 3, OILERS 1
At Buffalo, New York, Ryan Miller made 28 saves to lift Buffalo over Edmonton.
Drew Stafford, Steve Montador and Jochen Hecht scored for the Sabres (10-4-1), who snapped a two-game losing streak.
Tim Connolly also added a pair of assists in Buffalo’s fourth straight win over Edmonton.
Patrick O’Sullivan scored, and Nikolai Khabibulin made 23 saves for the Oilers (8-9-2).
Edmonton left winger Liam Reddox was knocked out when he was rammed headfirst into the boards by Clarke MacArthur late in the game.
BLACKHAWKS 3, AVALANCHE 2, SO
At Chicago, Patrick Sharp scored in the third shootout round, lifting Chicago over Colorado in the third straight game between the teams decided in a tiebreaker.
RSS