NHL: Hurricanes rally in third, hold off Washington

Eric Staal and Andrew Ladd scored in the first 2 minutes of the third period as the Carolina Hurricanes rallied to beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 Thursday night in Raleigh, N.C.

The Hurricanes, who had not played in four days, dominated most aspects of the game. The Capitals lost at Buffalo on Wednesday and were outshot 39-10 by the Hurricanes.

Alex Ovechkin scored twice for Washington, notching his second multigoal game in six contests. He almost had a hat trick, but his shot in the final second was blocked in front by Hurricanes defenseman Niclas Wallin.

Cam Ward relieved John Grahame in goal at the start of the third period and earned his 28th win of the season.

Blue Jackets 2, Red Wings 1 (SO): At Detroit, Sergei Fedorov’s goal in the third extra round of the shootout gave Columbus a win over Detroit.

David Vyborny and Rick Nash also scored in the shootout for Columbus. Pavel Datsyuk and Dan Cleary netted Detroit’s shootout goals.

Flames 3, Predators 2 (OT): At Calgary, Alberta, Calgary defenseman Rhett Warrener scored 1:27 into overtime to give the Flames a come-from-behind victory over Nashville.

Stephane Yelle won a faceoff deep in the Predators zone, knocking the puck to Alex Tanguay along the boards. Tanguay fired a pass in front that Warrener deflected through the pads of goalie Chris Mason.

Lightning 3, Devils 1: At Tampa, Fla., Martin St. Louis scored twice in the third period and Marc Denis made 34 saves overall to lead Tampa Bay past New Jersey.

Jason Ward also scored for Tampa Bay, which moved within two points of Southeast Division-leading Atlanta.

New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur stopped 29 shots.

Sharks 5, Thrashers 1: At Atlanta, Jonathan Cheechoo scored three goals, Milan Michalek had one and set up two others, and linemate Joe Thornton had three assists in San Jose’s victory that ended Atlanta’s franchise-record, home-winning streak at seven.

San Jose, which has won seven of eight, also got a goal from Bill Guerin, his 34th.

Wild 5, Blues 1: At St. Paul, Minn., Marian Gaborik scored twice and linemate Pavol Demitra had a goal and two assists as Minnesota beat St. Louis to capture its franshise-record eighth consecutive game.

Demitra set up both of Gaborik’s goals and scored on an assist from Gaborik.

Canadiens 6, Bruins 3: At Boston, Tomas Plekanec and Chris Higgins each had a goal and two assists to lift Montreal to a victory over Boston.

Montreal scored five unanswered goals in the last 22 minutes of the game and swept the home-and-home series after shutting out Boston 1-0 Tuesday.

Coyotes 2, Ducks 1: At Glendale, Ariz., Curtis Joseph stopped 23 shots and lead Phoenix to a win over Anaheim.

Travis Moen brought Anaheim to within 2-1 when he scored late in the third period. The Coyotes then held off the surging Ducks to record their second win in 11 games.

Senators 4, Panthers 2: At Sunrise, Fla., Ray Emery made 35 saves to lead Ottawa to a victory over Florida.

Patrick Eaves, Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley and Dean McAmmond scored for Ottawa, which completed a four-game sweep of the season series against Florida. The Senators have won five of their past six games.

Islanders 3, Penguins 1: At Uniondale, N.Y., Rick DiPietro turned aside 37 shots, and New York snapped a four-game losing streak by beating Pittsburgh.

Trent Hunter, Jason Blake and Viktor Kozlov scored for the Islanders after spotting the Penguins a 1-0 lead.