TAMPA, Florida: Nicklas Backstrom had two goals and two assists to lift the Washington Capitals to a 5-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Friday's meeting of the NHL Southeast Division's top two teams. Alex Ovechkin had a goal and three assists while Brooks Laich and Jason Chimera also scored for the Capitals, who moved within three points of the first-place Lightning. Washington had gone 0-1-2 in its previous three games, scoring just three goals over that stretch. Teddy Purcell and Brett Clark scored for Tampa Bay, which had a six-game winning streak end. Canucks 4, Blackhawks 3: In Vancouver, Daniel Sedin scored with 4 minutes left to take over the NHL scoring lead and lift Vancouver over Chicago. Daniel, who also had an assist on twin brother Henrik's tying goal 6 minutes earlier, moved one point ahead of Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos for the league lead with 69 points. Christian Ehrhoff and Mikael Samuelsson also scored for the Canucks. Jonathan Toews, Nick Boynton and Dave Bolland had goals for the Blackhawks. Penguins 3, Sabres 2: In Pittsburgh, the hosts scored three goals in a second-period span of 3:14 to overcome Buffalo. Dustin Jeffrey, Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke scored the goals for Pittsburgh, which has won five consecutive. Evgeni Malkin returned to the lineup after missing the previous five games due to a left knee injury and a sinus infection, but he was knocked out of the game during the first shift of the second period with a lower-body injury. In the first 7 minutes of playing without Malkin, the Penguins – 10-1 without him this season – scored thrice. Paul Gaustad and Mike Grier scored for Buffalo. Blue Jackets 3, Red Wings 0: In Detroit, Steve Mason made 34 saves for his 17th career shutout, helping Columbus beat Detroit. Antoine Vermette and Andrew Murray each had a goal and an assist and Jared Boll also scored for Columbus. Murray scored into an empty net with 1:12 remaining. Panthers 4, Devils 3, OT: In Newark, New Jersey, Rostislav Olesz scored the winner two minutes into overtime on a sharp-angle shot from the bottom of the right circle that slipped past New Jersey goaltender Johan Hedberg. Chris Higgins, Dennis Wideman and Mike Santorelli also scored for the Panthers. Florida cooled off the Devils, who are 8-2-1 in their past 11. Travis Zajac, Jason Arnott and Mark Fayne scored for New Jersey. Blues 5, Oilers 3: In St. Louis, Andy McDonald had an assist in his first game back from a 24-game concussion-related absence as St. Louis downed Edmonton. T.J. Oshie got his second goal in six games back from a broken ankle, while Alex Pietrangelo, Matt D'Agostini, Brad Boyes and Erik Johnson also scored for the Blues. The Oilers' goals came from Sam Gagner, Taylor Hall and Theo Peckham.
