WASHINGTON: Ilya Kovalchuk scored the tiebreaking goal on a 5-on-3 power play with about 8 1/2 minutes left to complete the New Jersey Devils’ 3-2 comeback victory over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night.
Washington led 2-1 entering the third period on power-play goals by Mathieu Perrault and Mike Ribeiro.
Andrei Loktionov made it 2-all midway through the last period, and Kovalchuk put New Jersey ahead for the first time off Patrik Elias’ assist. Elias had scored a short-handed goal in the second period.
PANTHERS 5 FLYERS 2: At Philadelphia, Jonathan Huberdeau and Peter Mueller each had two goals to help Florida snap a five-game losing streak with a victory over Philadelphia.
Tomas Kopecky also scored for Florida, which was 0-2-3 since a 3-2 shootout victory in Philadelphia on Feb. 7.
BRUINS 4 LIGHTNING 2: At Tampa, Floriada, Nathan Horton scored two goals, and Boston beat Tampa Bay.
Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand also scored for Boston, which improved to 6-1-1 on the road.
SENATORS 3 RANGERS 2 SO: At Ottawa, Kaspars Daugavins scored in the seventh round of the shootout and backup goalie Ben Bishop earned the victory in relief of injured starter Craig Anderson as Ottawa beat the New York Rangers.
BLUE JACKETS 3 RED WINGS 2: At Detroit, Vinny Prospal scored with 24.7 seconds left, capping a comeback that lifted Columbus over Detroit.
Damien Brunner and Valtteri Filppula scored in the first 2-plus minutes of the game to put the Red Wings ahead by two, a cushion they wasted for a third time during their five-game losing streak.
MAPLE LEAFS 3 SABRES 1: At Toronto, James van Riemsdyk scored two goals to lead Toronto past Buffalo, spoiling the NHL head coaching debut of the Sabres’ Ron Rolston.
Rolston, who until Wednesday was the head coach of the AHL’s Rochester Americans, was hired as the Sabres interim coach following the club’s decision to fire Lindy Ruff.
ISLANDERS 4 CANADIENS 3 OT: At Montreal, Rookie defenseman Thomas Hickey scored in overtime for his first NHL goal, and the New York Islanders rallied to snap Montreal’s five-game winning streak.
Matt Moulson scored twice and Frans Nielsen added a goal in the third period for the Islanders (7-9-1), who trailed 2-0 and 3-1 but came back to end a two-game slide and win for the third time in 10 games.
Max Pacioretty had two goals, and Travis Moen added one for the Canadiens (11-5-2). After going his first 10 games without a goal, Pacioretty has four in three games.
JETS 4 HURRICANES 3: At Raleigh, Blake Wheeler scored his second goal of the game with 4:54 remaining to lift Winnipeg over Carolina.
Wheeler’s goal concluded a stretch in which the teams scored three goals in a span of 1:03.
Jiri Tlutsy scored twice for Carolina, and Jordan Staal also scored for the Hurricanes. Cam Ward made 19 saves.
Andrew Ladd and Evander Kane also scored for Winnipeg, and Ondrej Pavelec made 27 saves. Ladd also had two assists.
