WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his 21st hat trick and first this season to lift the Washington Capitals over the Detroit Red Wings 6-2 on Tuesday night.

Ovechkin entered the night as the NHL’s goal leader and stretched his total to 25 through 30 games, halfway to a potential eighth 50-goal season.

Nicklas Backstrom had four assists to help Washington get its third straight victory and 10th in 12 games. T.J. Oshie added a goal in his return from an 11-game layoff due to a concussion, and Travis Boyd and Brett Connolly also scored early.

BRUINS 4, COYOTES 3

BOSTON (AP) — Brad Marchand scored two goals and assisted on another during a four-goal, second-period flurry to lead Boston over Arizona.

Arizona led 2-0 before Boston scored four times in five minutes, starting when Danton Heinen and David Pastrnak delivered 33 seconds apart. Marchand gave the Bruins the lead two minutes later, and then added another two minutes after that to make it 4-2.

CANUCKS 3,

 BLUE JACKETS 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Jake Virtanen scored the tiebreaking goal with less than two minutes remaining and Jacob Markstrom stopped 34 shots as Vancouver rallied to beat Columbus.

Elias Pettersson got credit for a goal that went in off his skate to tie it with about 3:04 left, and Virtanen’s goal put the Canucks ahead 78 seconds later.

Josh Leivo also scored in the third period for the Canucks, who have won three straight after losing 12 of 13.

WILD 7, CANADIENS 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Matt Dumba scored twice, Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves and Minnesota took out some recent frustrations on Montreal.

The Wild scored four times in the second period to recover from a lousy swing through Western Canada, when Minnesota dropped two of three and lost captain Mikko Koivu to injury.

JETS 6, 

BLACKHAWKS 3

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Kyle Connor scored twice and Winnipeg gave Chicago its eighth straight loss.

Mark Scheifele and Tyler Myers each had a goal and assist, Mathieu Perreault scored and Brandon Tanev added an empty-net goal for Winnipeg (19-9-2). Dustin Byfuglien had three assists.

Laurent Brossoit played his eighth game (seventh start) for the Jets and made 32 saves.

BLUES 4, PANTHERS 3

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Brayden Schenn capped St. Louis’ four-goal third period as the Blues beat Florida.

David Perron had two goals, and Ivan Barbashev also scored for St. Louis, which had lost three of four and eight of their last 11. Jake Allen made stopped 22 shots to improve to 2-4-0 in his career against Florida.

PREDATORS 3, 

SENATORS 1

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Ryan Ellis scored his first game-winning goal of the season, Pekka Rinne made 25 saves and Nashville defeated Ottawa.

Austin Watson and Craig Smith also scored for the Predators, who halted a two-game skid.

MAPLE LEAFS 4, 

HURRICANES 1

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — William Nylander had two assists and Morgan Rielly scored the go-ahead goal to lift Toronto over Carolina.

The assists were the first points of the season for Nylander, who missed the first 28 games before signing a six-year deal worth $41.7 million.

Tyler Ennis, Patrick Marleau and John Tavares also scored for the Maple Leafs, who won for the third time in four road games. Frederik Andersen made 29 saves.

SABRES 4, KINGS 3, OT

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jeff Skinner scored a power-play goal 1:49 into overtime and Buffalo overcame a 3-1 deficit in the third period to beat Los Angeles.

Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist, and the Sabres snapped an 0-3-2 skid that immediately followed their franchise record-tying 10-game winning streak.

OILERS 6, 

AVALANCHE 4

DENVER (AP) — Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice as part of Edmonton’s four-goal second period, Mikko Koskinen stopped 39 shots and the Oilers extended their winning streak to four games with a victory over Colorado.

Connor McDavid added a goal and an assist as the Oilers improved to 8-2-1 since coach Ken Hitchcock took over the struggling team on Nov. 20.