Washington Capitals right wing Alex Ovechkin (8), from Russia, celebrates his goal in the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

WASHINGTON - Alex Ovechkin scored four goals, including the equalizer with 32.4 seconds left in regulation, and the Washington Capitals rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-5 in a shootout Tuesday night.

Ovechkin increased his NHL-leading total to 26 goals and became Washington's career leader in power-play goals, scoring twice with the extra man to pass Peter Bondra, who had 137.

Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and four assists, and Troy Brouwer beat Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop in the fifth round of the shootout to provide the Capitals with their fifth win in six games.

Martin St. Louis and Tyler Johnson each had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who squandered a three-goal lead in losing their sixth straight at Washington.

Ondrej Palat scored on a wrist shot between the circles after taking Johnson's centring pass from behind the net to put Tampa Bay up 5-4 at 8:36 of the third period.

It appeared that would hold up until Ovechkin scored from the left circle after Washington pulled goalie Philipp Grubauer.

ISLANDERS 3, SHARKS 2, SO

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Kyle Okposo scored the tying goal with 1:37 left in regulation and got the game-winner in the fourth round of a shootout to help New York snap a 10-game losing streak with a victory over San Jose.

Thomas Vanek also scored in regulation and the shootout for the Islanders. Kevin Poulin made 46 saves and was outstanding early to keep the Islanders in the game until they broke through with two third-period goals. Then he stopped three of four attempts in the shootout despite appearing to injure himself on a pad save against Joe Pavelski in the first round.

Patrick Marleau and Pavelski scored for the Sharks, who blew a 2-0 lead and have lost four straight. Antti Niemi made 26 saves.

New York had also lost 10 straight road games in regulation since beating Ottawa 5-4 in a shootout on Nov. 1.

PANTHERS 3, RED WINGS 2, SO

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brad Boyes scored the winning goal in a shootout to lift Florida over Detroit.

Aleksander Barkov also scored in the tiebreaker for Florida, which has won three of four overall and two in a row against the Red Wings.

Tomas Tatar scored for Detroit in the shootout but Tim Thomas stopped shots by Daniel Alfredsson and Gustav Nyquist.

Nick Bjugstad and Sean Bergenheim had goals in regulation for Florida. Thomas made 24 saves.

Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi scored for the Red Wings. Jimmy Howard made 25 saves and Johan Franzen had two assists.

Detroit lost for the sixth time this season when leading after two periods. Florida scored twice in the third to tie the game.

PREDATORS 4, RANGERS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Nick Spaling and Rich Clune scored first-period goals, and seldom-used backup Carter Hutton made 28 saves as Nashville snapped a five-game losing streak by beating New York.

Hutton (5-3-1) made his first start since Nov. 10 and his third appearance in that span as the Predators try to get by while Pekka Rinne (hip) is out. Marek Mazanec went 0-4-1 in the previous five games.

Matt Hendricks made it 3-1 just 2:38 into the third, knocking in a loose puck from in front, with Clune earning an assist. Paul Gaustad scored an empty-net goal with 1:06 left and added two assists.

Rick Nash cut New York's deficit in half in the second period and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 22 shots, but the Rangers fell to 0-2-1 on their nine-game homestand. They have dropped four straight at Madison Square Garden (0-3-1).

SABRES 2, SENATORS 1, SO

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Zemgus Girgensons scored the tying goal in the second period and added a score in the 10th round of a shootout to lift Buffalo over Ottawa.

Ryan Miller made 35 saves for the Sabres, who snapped a three-game skid. Matt Moulson, Brian Flynn and Steve Ott also scored for Buffalo in the shootout.

With his 46th shootout win, Miller took sole possession of the record for most shootout wins in NHL history.

Milan Michalek scored Ottawa's goal and Robin Lehner made 35 saves. The Senators' shootout scorers were Mika Zibanejad, Kyle Turris and Michalek.

Buffalo is 4-0 in games decided by a shootout.

BLUE JACKETS 5, DEVILS 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Nick Foligno scored the game-winning goal with 91 seconds left when Ryan Johansen's shot went in off his skate, giving Columbus a victory over New Jersey.

Cam Atkinson had two goals and two assists, Brandon Dubinsky had a goal and three assists and Matt Calvert also scored for the Blue Jackets, who have won their last four at home.

Damien Brunner scored twice and Travis Zajac and Michael Ryder also had goals for the Devils, who have lost four of five.

The Blue Jackets trailed 3-1 before scoring twice in 49 seconds in the second period against Martin Brodeur.

KINGS 6, CANADIENS 0

MONTREAL (AP) — Rookie goalie Martin Jones made 31 saves for his second shutout in two games, and six Los Angeles players scored against Montreal.

Jordan Nolan, Anze Kopitar, Alec Martinez, Tyler Toffoli, Jake Muzzin and Justin Williams had the goals for the Kings, who won their fourth straight.

Carey Price made 12 saves on 16 shots for the Canadiens before being replaced by Peter Budaj, who stopped 12 of 14 shots. The loss snapped Montreal's 10-game point streak dating to Nov. 16.

BLACKHAWKS 6, STARS 2

DALLAS (AP) — Patrick Sharp scored twice to extend his domination of Dallas and help Chicago cruise to an easy victory.

Brandon Saad also scored two goals for Chicago, which has won three of the four games between the teams. One victory was in a shootout.

Sharp has four goals and four assists against the Stars this season. In his last eight games versus Dallas, he has eight goals and seven assists.

Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists for the Blackhawks. Defenceman Michael Kostka returned after missing 24 games because of a foot injury to score Chicago's first goal. Antti Raanta made 27 saves for his fourth win.

Antoine Roussel scored twice for the Stars. Dan Ellis replaced starter Kari Lehtonen after he gave up four goals in the first 28:20.

BLUES 2, JETS 1

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Kevin Shattenkirk scored a power-play goal at 16:58 of the third period to give St. Louis a win over Winnipeg.

Bryan Little scored early in the third for the Jets, who outshot the Blues 8-2 in a scoreless first period.

Alex Steen turned things around in the second for St. Louis with his 21st goal of the season. Brian Elliott made 20 saves.

COYOTES 3, AVALANCHE 1

DENVER (AP) — Antoine Vermette scored two goals, Thomas Greiss stopped 29 shots and Phoenix topped Colorado.

Jordan Szwarz also had a goal for the Coyotes, who won for the second time in five games.

Phoenix has struggled of late, going 3-5-2 in its past 10 games to slip to ninth in the Western Conference. This win pulled the Coyotes within a point of Colorado.

Patrick Bordeleau scored his fourth of the season and Semyon Varlamov made 22 saves for the Avalanche, who have lost three of four.

BRUINS 2, FLAMES 1

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Reilly Smith scored the tiebreaking goal at 15:27 of the third period and Boston beat the Flames in Jarome Iginla's return to Calgary.

David Krejci scored a power-play goal almost 14 minutes into the third to pull Boston even. Only 1:38 later, Smith skated down left wing, cut around defenceman T.J. Brodie and roofed a shot into the top corner of the net over the outstretched glove of Reto Berra.

Tuukka Rask made 26 saves to help Boston win its third straight.

Jiri Hudler scored in the second period for the Flames, who had won three of four.

Iginla received an extended standing ovation before the opening faceoff of his first game back in Calgary since he was traded to Pittsburgh last season. The former Flames captain signed with the Bruins as a free agent in the off-season.

OILERS 5, HURRICANES 4, OT

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Jordan Eberle scored a power-play goal at 1:48 of overtime to give Edmonton a victory over Carolina.

Justin Faulk of the Hurricanes took a penalty early in the overtime for a hit from behind on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The Oilers' forward was able to remain on the ice and set up the winner, sending a pass to Eberle at the side of the net.

Edmonton recovered after wasting a 4-1 lead.

Taylor Hall, Nail Yakupov, Nugent-Hopkins and Jesse Joensuu also scored for the Oilers, who are 7-3-1 in their past 11 games.

Tuomo Ruutu, Jordan Staal, Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner scored for the Hurricanes, who have lost two in a row on the heels of a three-game winning streak.

News from © The Associated Press, 2013