Ovechkin's 50th powers Capitals

Alexander Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 50th goal to become Washington's first three-time 50-goal scorer, and defenseman Mike Green had two goals in the Capitals' 5-2 victory over the host Tampa Bay Lightning last night.

Ovechkin, who also had two assists, opened the scoring at 7:43 of the first period.

The 23-year-old Russian star took a pass from Nicklas Backstrom and carried the puck up the right side. Ovechkin deked Tampa Bay's Matt Pettinger out of position and snapped a wrist shot from the right circle past rookie goalie Mike McKenna.

Ovechkin has 213 goals in 315 career regular-season games. He had 52 goals as a rookie in 2005-06, 46 in 2006-07, and 65 last season.

Tampa Bay rookie Steven Stamkos answered Ovechkin's goal with a power-play score with 2:21 left in the first period, but Green - the NHL leader among defensemen with 27 goals - put the Capitals back in front 10 seconds before intermission.

Right wing Martin St. Louis tied it at 2 with 4:06 remaining in the second period. He has five goals and five assists during a seven-game scoring streak.

Ovechkin assisted on goals by Green and Michael Nylander in the third period, and Matt Bradley finished off the Lightning with a goal at 12:26.

Washington has nine victories in a row against Tampa Bay, which hasn't defeated its Southeast Division rival since Nov. 16, 2007.

The Lightning have allowed four or more goals in each of the last six meetings.

Senators 5, Canadiens 4 - Jason Spezza scored goals 52 seconds apart late in the first period, and Daniel Alfredsson added a goal and an assist in Ottawa's victory over visiting Montreal.

Nick Foligno and Jarkko Ruutu also scored for the Senators, who have won three in a row and seven of eight. Brian Elliott stopped 28 shots for Ottawa.

Montreal, which got a pair from Guillaume Latendresse and single goals from Alex Tanguay and Tom Kostopoulos, lost its fourth in a row.

Jaroslav Halak made 23 saves after taking over for Carey Price following Ruutu's highlight-reel goal early in the second. Halak stopped Christoph Schubert on a breakaway and made a left toe save on Alfredsson before Latendresse scored his second of the game midway through the second to draw Montreal to 4-3.

Panthers 3, Maple Leafs 1 - At Sunrise, Fla., Stephen Weiss had a shorthanded goal and an assist, and Tomas Vokoun made 37 saves in Florida's victory over Toronto.

Richard Zednik and Ville Peltonen also scored, and David Booth had two assists to help the Panthers end a four-game losing streak.

Mikhail Grabovski scored for Toronto, and Martin Gerber made 39 saves.

Florida went up, 2-1, on Zednik's goal at 6:21 of the second period. Zednik took a pass from Booth and his shot went between the legs of Gerber as Toronto defenseman Andre Deveaux slid into his goalie. Peltonen made it 3-1 at 7:48 of the second with a backhander from the side of the net that trickled through Gerber's legs.

Canucks 3, Blues 0 - Roberto Luongo made 30 saves for his first shutout in four months as Vancouver extended its franchise-record home winning streak to 11 games.

Alex Burrows opened the scoring with 5:06 left in the second period. Mason Raymond and Henrik Sedin added goals 1:56 apart midway through the third to help the Canucks leapfrog Chicago for fourth place in the Western Conference.

Oilers 8, Avalanche 1 - Sam Gagner had three goals and an assist to spark Edmonton in Denver.

Ethan Moreau, Shawn Horcoff, Fernando Pisani, Ales Kotalik, and Sheldon Souray also scored, and Dwayne Roloson, making his franchise-record 26th straight start, made 16 saves in the third period and finished with 26 for the Oilers.

Ducks 3, Coyotes 2 - Bobby Ryan scored the deciding goal in the shootout as visiting Anaheim stayed in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race.

Anaheim took a 2-1 lead when Phoenix's Kyle Turris deflected the puck into his own net with 7:01 to play. The Coyotes tied it on Matthew Lombardi's goal with 2:31 left in regulation.

Sharks 3, Predators 2 - Jonathan Cheechoo scored the winning shootout goal with a deft backhand, and Evgeni Nabokov made 25 saves in San Jose's victory over visiting Nashville.

Rob Blake and Milan Michalek scored early goals for the Sharks, with Joel Ward and Vernon Fiddler answering in the first for the Predators.