Alex Ovechkin lifts Capitals past Canucks, 3-2

VANCOUVER, British Columbia: For 55 minutes, Washington star Alex Ovechkin couldn’t get anything past Vancouver goalie Ryan Miller. Not on odd-man rushes. Not on pretty one-timers.
Finally, Evgeny Kuznetsov fed Ovechkin on a 2-on-1 for a final attempt that fluttered up and over Miller, off the crossbar and in with 4:55 left to give the Capitals a 3-2 victory over Thursday night.
“Muffin shot by me and it goes in,” Ovechkin said: “Lots of opportunities today to get more, but that’s why they have goalies. Lucky one.”
The Russian has five goals in five games this season, all victories. He sat out Washington’s lone loss against San Jose after he overslept and missed a practice.
“We haven’t had success in this building in a long time,” Ovechkin said. “Mentally, it’s huge for us to get these two points.”
Jay Beagle pulled the Capitals even at 5:42 of the third and Ovechkin finished off the Canucks for Washington’s fourth straight victory. Washington has beaten Chicago, Carolina and Calgary on its streak.
Jason Chimera scored in the first for the Capitals, but Radim Vrbata and Henrik Sedin each had a goal and an assist in the second for Vancouver.
Washington’s Braden Holtby made 23 saves. He stopped Daniel Sedin on a 2-on-1 midway through the third and made a save against Bo Horvat with less than 7 minutes left.
“That’s my job,” said Holtby. “A team like Vancouver, they are going to get chances. They are pretty skilled, creative, and that’s one thing we knew coming into the game.”
Vancouver lost its third straight to fall to 3-2-2. The Canucks are 0-2-2 at home and have dropped the first three of a five-game homestand.
“It’s disappointing. I felt we played well enough to win,” Henrik Sedin said. “They have a good team over there. It’s not good enough to be OK. You have to be great. Today we were good, but it wasn’t enough.”
Miller stopped 32 shots for Vancouver.
The Capitals tied it when Vrbata gave the puck away behind his own net, with Beagle eventually tipping John Carlson’s point shot past Miller.
Stars 4, Penguins 1: Goaltender Antti Niemi made 33 saves and the Dallas Stars dominated the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second time in 15 days, winning 4-1 for their fifth consecutive victory.
Niemi was excellent from the start to improve to 6-1-1 in his career against the Penguins, who had won three in a row only to generate little offense against a Stars team that has scored 25 goals to Pittsburgh’s 11 this season.
Rangers 4, Coyotes 1: Kevin Hayes capitalized on a third-period gaffe by goaltender Mike Smith to help the New York Rangers beat the Arizona Coyotes.
With the score locked at 1-1, Smith skated behind his net to play the puck but his pass deflected off J.T. Miller and directly to Hayes, who scored his second goal of the season into the empty net.
Defenseman Keith Yandle added a power-play goal about four minutes later. Left winger Chris Kreider also scored for the Rangers.
Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist stopped 34 shots.
Devils 5, Senators 4 (shootout): Winger Lee Stempniak’s goal in the fourth round of the shootout helped the New Jersey Devils to a 5-4 shootout victory over the Ottawa Senators.
Stempniak had sent the game into overtime with a goal with 31.4 seconds left in regulation.
Chris Neil, Mika Zibanejad, Zack Smith and Mike Hoffman all scored for the Senators.
Travis Zajac, Adam Henrique and Jordin Tootoo also scored for the Devils, whose goalie Cory Schneider made 35 stops and picked up the 100th victory of his career.
Predators 5, Ducks 1: Defenseman Ryan Ellis and center Colin Wilson each collected a goal and two assists as Nashville dumped the struggling Anaheim Ducks 5-1.
The Predators broke up a scoreless tie with three second period goals from Erik Nystrom, Ryan ellis and Mike Ribeiro, then added Mattias Ekholm’s slap shot at 3:03 of the third period and Wilson’s power-play goal at 18:18 to cap the scoring.
Goalie Pekka Rinne turned away 27 shots, although he lost out on his 38th career shutout when Anaheim’s left winger Jiri Sekac scored on a power play at 12:15 of the third.
Wild 3, Blue Jackets 2: Goals by Zach Parise, Thomas Vanek and Nino Niederreiter rallied the Minnesota Wild for a 3-2 win over Columbus, who lost their first game under coach John Tortorella after Todd Richards was fired after losing their first seven games.
Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 20 saves for the Blue Jackets, who got first period goals from centers Alexander Wennberg and Brandon Dubinsky to take a 2-1 lead.
Goalie Devan Dubnyk made 27 saves for the Wild.
Blackhawks 3, Panthers 2: Right winger Patrick Kane and defenseman Brent Seabrook each had a goal and two assists as the Chicago Blackhawks held on for a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers.
Center Artem Anisimov also scored a goal, while Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford stopped 16 of 18 shots to earn his 150th career victory.
Vincent Trocheck and Jaromir Jagr scored for the Panthers.
Kings 4, Sharks 1: In his first game with the Kings, goaltender Jhonas Enroth led Los Angeles to a 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks.
The backup to Jonathan Quick stopped 39 of 40 shots and continued to be a nemesis for the Sharks, who lost their third in a row.
Enroth posted a 3-0 record, a 1.24 goals-against average and a .965 save percentage during four career games against San Jose as a member of the Buffalo Sabres and Dallas Stars.