BOSTON — David Backes scored the tying goal with eighth-tenths of a second left in regulation and the St. Louis Blues went on to beat the Boston Bruins 5-4 in a shootout Monday.
Down 4-2, the Blues rallied on David Perron’s power-play goal with 1:20 left. Backes then batted the puck out of the air for an empty-net score as the siren sounded — after a lengthy replay review, the goal counted.
T.J. Oshie and Brad Boyes scored in the shootout for the Blues, who have the worst record in the Western Conference and had lost nine of their previous 10 road games.
The Eastern Conference-leading Bruins trailed 2-1 before scoring three times in a span of 1:39 late in the third period.
P.J. Axelsson and Michael Ryder had power-play goals 19 seconds apart, then Zdeno Chara scored off a faceoff with 3:05 left for a 4-2 edge.
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Alex Ovechkin scored two goals, the second coming 1:46 into overtime, to lead the Washington Capitals to a victory and send the New York Islanders to their eighth straight loss.
With Washington on a power play, Ovechkin took a pass from Alexander Semin and beat Yann Danis for the Capitals’ third straight win. Jose Theodore earned his 200th career victory with 27 saves.
Kyle Okposo scored for New York, while Danis stopped 36 shots.
Washington has 63 points, putting the Capitals are far ahead in the Southeast division, and just eight points behind Boston in the Eastern Conference.
The Islanders have losing streaks this season of six, 10, and eight games.
TAMPA, Fla. — Vincent Lecavalier scored twice to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning past the Dallas Stars 4-2 on Monday night.
Lecavalier gave the Lightning a 3-2 lead with 5:06 left in the third period from the top of the right circle during a power play. Vinny Prospal had an empty-net goal at 19:11 to make it 4-2.
Steven Stamkos pulled Tampa Bay even at 2 from the low slot off a pass from Steve Downie at 11:46 of the third.
Tampa Bay’s Mark Recchi assisted on Lecavalier’s third-period goal, moving him past Dale Hawerchuk into 17th place on the NHL’s career point list with 1,410.
TORONTO — Cam Ward made 35 saves and the Carolina Hurricanes snapped a five-game losing streak with a 2-0 victory over the Maple Leafs on Monday night, giving coach Paul Maurice a victory in his return to Toronto.
Joe Corvo and Chad LaRose scored to back Ward’s second shutout of the season for Carolina.
The Maple Leafs were blanked for the second consecutive home game.
Maurice spent the past two seasons coaching the Maple Leafs and acknowledged recently that games against his former team mean a little more.
CHICAGO — Niklas Backstrom made 40 saves, and defenseman Marek Zidlicky had two power-play goals and an assist to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night.
Mikko Koivu added a goal and two assists and Cal Clutterbuck had an empty-net goal as the Wild dealt the Blackhawks only their third regulation loss at home this season.
Chicago is 14-2-5 at the United Center and lost 6-4 to Detroit at Wrigley Field in the
NHL Winter Classic.
Owen Nolan had two assists for Minnesota, which went 2- for-3 on the power play.
Martin Havlat scored for the Blackhawks.
SUNRISE, Fla. — Ales Kotalik and Derek Roy scored in a shootout to give the Buffalo Sabres a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Monday night.
Sabres goalie Ryan Miller stopped Nathan Horton and David Booth as Buffalo improved to 6-2 in shootouts this season.
Thomas Vanek and Tim Connolly scored in regulation for the Sabres, who have won three in a row and seven of nine.
Booth scored on a penalty shot for Florida, which hasn’t lost in regulation in eight
games (5-0-3). Nathan Horton had the other goal for the Panthers, who dropped to 2-6 in shootouts.
Miller finished with 27 saves. Florida’s Tomas Vokoun stopped 24 shots.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Brendan Shanahan’s return to the New Jersey Devils was a big success.
Playing his first NHL game in more than eight months, Shanahan broke a scoreless tie in the second period and New Jersey beat the Nashville Predators 3-1 on Monday night for its fourth straight victory.
David Clarkson and Zach Parise also scored for the Devils, who moved ahead of the New York Rangers into first place in the Atlantic Division. New Jersey completed a 5-1 road trip, getting help in the finale from an old pro.
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