WASHINGTON (AP) — Troy Brouwer got his first career hat trick, and Alex Ovechkin also scored Friday night as the Washington Capitals beat Tampa Bay 4-3, handing the Lightning their sixth straight loss.
Brouwer scored in each period for the Capitals, who have won six straight at home and six of eight overall to move back into playoff position in the Eastern Conference.
Tomas Vokoun made 28 saves to follow up his 1-0 shutout of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday. Washington is 11-9-1 since Dale Hunter replaced Bruce Boudreau as coach in late November.
Steven Stamkos scored his league-leading 30th goal, and Tom Pyatt and Vincent Lecavalier also scored for the Lightning, who have yet to win in 2012.
PENGUINS 4, PANTHERS 1
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Evgeni Malkin scored late in the second period and Pittsburgh snapped a six-game losing streak.
Steve Sullivan Tyler Kennedy, and James Neal also scored as the Penguins got their first multigoal effort in the past six games. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 25 shots.
Michal Repik scored a goal and Scott Clemmensen made 37 saves for Florida.
After a scoreless opening period, the Penguins took a 1-0 lead on Sullivan's goal at 1:49 of the second. Malkin made it 2-0 with an unassisted score with 35 seconds to go in the period. After Kennedy stretched the lead 36 seconds into the third, Repik got the Panthers on the board at 6:55 of the final period.
SABRES 3, MAPLE LEAFS 2
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jason Pominville scored the go-ahead goal with 5:47 left in the second period, and Buffalo held on for the win.
Paul Gaustad had a goal and an assist, Matt Ellis also scored and Patrick Kaleta had two assists for the Sabres. Ryan Miller made 24 saves in helping Buffalo snap a three-game winless skid (0-2-1) and get their third victory in 12 games (3-7-2).
Mikhail Grabovski had a goal and assist and Joey Crabb also scored for the Maple Leafs, who blew a chance to move eight games over .500 since closing the 2006-07 season at 40-31-11, according to STATS LLC. They also snapped a four-game winning streak.
BLUE JACKETS 4, COYOTES 3
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Derick Brassard had a goal and an assist, helping Todd Richards a win in his home debut as Columbus interim head coach.
Rick Nash also scored and Tomas Kubalik and Ryan Russell each had their first NHL goals for the Blue Jackets, who fired second-year head coach Scott Arniel on Monday and elevated Richards to replace him.
Curtis Sanford had 32 saves for the Blue Jackets, who had lost two in a row and four of five.
Lauri Korpikoski had a goal and two assists, Radim Vrbata a goal and a helper and Oliver Ekman-Larsson two assists for the the Coyotes, who have lost four road games in a row. Adrian Aucoin also scored.
DUCKS 5, OILERS 0
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Jonas Hiller stopped 33 shots to earn his second shutout of the season and Teemu Selanne scored twice to lead Anaheim.
Jason Blake, Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry also scored and Ryan Getzlaf had four assists to help the Ducks win for the fourth time in five games.
The Oilers have lost five straight and 12 of their last 14. Nikolai Khabibulin gave up three goals on 14 shots and was replaced midway through the second period by Devan Dubnyk, who allowed two goals on the 14 shots he faced.
