Ovechkin scores four in Capitals’ victory

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 in Ottawa.

The Russian star scored a power-play goal 4:45 in to put Washington up 2-0. He added his second of the game early in the second before completing his first hat trick of the season in the third.

Ovechkin got his 30th goal of the season for his first career four-goal game on an empty net with 27.6 seconds remaining after he hit the outside of the net with a long shot moments earlier.

Islanders 5, Devils 2: At Uniondale, N.Y., Andy Sutton scored his first goal of the season with 8:17 left in the third period to give the Islanders the lead and to help New York cruise to a victory over New Jersey, its fourth of the season against the Devils.

Blue Jackets 4, Hurricanes 1: At Columbus, Ohio, Nikolai Zherdev scored two spectacular goals and had a career-best four points to help the Blue Jackets beat Carolina.

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-man-advantage goals in a victory over the Maple Leafs.

Flyers 4, Lightning 2: At Tampa, Fla., Joffrey Lupul scored on a penalty shot and added two assists to help Philadelphia beat slumping Tampa Bay.

Thrashers 5, Bruins 0: At Atlanta, Slava Kozlov, Bobby Holik and Pascal Dupuis scored in a three-goal first period and Kari Lehtonen earned his second shutout, leading the Thrashers to a victory over Boston.

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 with a win over Colorado.

Sharks 5, Predators 2: At Nashville, Tenn., Matthew Carle and Steve Bernier each had a goal and an assist to help San Jose beat the Predators, winning a franchise-record ninth straight road game.

Stars 5, Blues 4 (SO): At Dallas, Mike Modano had the lone goal in a shootout and the Stars overcame Paul Kariya’s three third-period goals to beat St. Louis.

Backup Stars goalie Mike Smith stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout.

Wild 5, Oilers 4 (OT): At St. Paul Minn., Petteri Nummelin capped a Wild comeback from three goals down by scoring on an overtime power play to send Minnesota to a victory over Edmonton.

Andrew Cogliano and Fernando Pisani also had goals for the Oilers, who welcomed captain Ethan Moreau back after an absence of more than 14 months because of injuries. Moreau had one assist.

Red Wings 4, Coyotes 2: At Glendale, Ariz., Pavel Datsyuk scored with just more than 4 minutes remaining in the third period to break a tie and help Detroit to a win over Phoenix.

Flames 5, Ducks 3: At Calgary, Alberta, Kristian Huselius scored two goals to help the Flames rally from a 3-1 deficit and Calgary got the victory over Anaheim.

Penguins 2, Sabres 0: At Pittsburgh, Ty Conklin won his fourth in a row and Sidney Crosby set up both Penguins’ goals to help Pittsburgh beat Buffalo.