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Penguins 5, Hurricanes 2

At Raleigh, N.C., Petr Sykora scored two goals, Sidney Crosby had four assists and Pittsburgh routed the Hurricanes to spoil the start of coach Paul Maurice's second stint with the team.

Pascal Dupuis scored an early goal and NHL scoring leader Evgeni Malkin added two assists, even as his NHL lead over Crosby dwindled to two.

The Penguins scored five goals on their first 13 shots, including first-period goals by Sykora and Dupuis roughly 1 1/2 minutes apart. Crosby assisted on both of them, giving him 39 points this season and 16 career points in 12 meetings with the Hurricanes. Sykora has 32 points in 36 games against Carolina.

Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko also scored, and Dany Sabourin made 34 saves to help Pittsburgh improve to 8-3-2 on the road.

Tuomo Ruutu and Matt Cullen scored for the Hurricanes, who shook up their coaching staff yet wound up with more of the same results.

They fired coach Peter Laviolette a day earlier and replaced him with Maurice, who coached them to a franchise-best 268 wins from 1995 until he was fired in December 2003. They brought Hall of Fame player Ron Francis out of the front office and put him behind the bench as the associate coach.

Capitals 5, Islanders 2

At Washington, Donald Brashear scored his first goal of the season with 13:10 left to snap a tie for the Capitals.

Brashear, a rugged winger known more for his fighting than his skating, had gone 37 games without a goal before giving Washington a 3-2 lead.

Eric Fehr added a power-play goal with 3:46 to go, and Nicklas Backstrom scored into an empty net with 50 seconds remaining. Alex Ovechkin had a goal and two assists, and Viktor Kozlov also scored. Mark Streit and Trent Hunter scored for New York.

Devils 3, Panthers 2 (OT)

At Philadelphia, Patrik Elias scored the tying and winning goals as New Jersey beat the Flyers.

Elias scored the winner at 2:46 of the extra period. He stole the puck in the slot, split two defenders and then put a backhander through goalie Martin Biron's pads.

Elias tied it with 1:30 left in regulation with a slap shot from just inside the blue line that trickled off Biron's midsection into the net.

Scottie Upshall gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead on a fluke play at 15:32 of the third period. His centering pass bounced off New Jersey defender Bryce Salvador into the net.

Zach Parise added a goal and an assist for the Devils, who have won six of their last seven games. Kimmo Timonen scored for the Flyers.

Bruins 3, Lightning 1

At Tampa, Fla., David Krejci scored the tiebreaking short-handed goal in the third period for Northeast Division-leading Boston.

Phil Kessel had two goals, including an empty-netter with less than second remaining, for the Bruins, who are 12-1-1 since the start of November. Tim Thomas made 30 saves to improve to 7-1-1 in his last nine starts.

Martin St. Louis scored for Tampa Bay. The Lightning have lost six in a row and 13 of 15.

Panthers 2, Sabres 1

At Sunrise, Fla., Craig Anderson made 45 saves, and Gregory Campbell and Keith Ballard scored 35 seconds apart in the second period for Florida.

Campbell scored for the third consecutive game and also had an assist for the Panthers. Florida has won three in a row and is 4-0-2 in its last six.

Ales Kotalik scored for Buffalo. The Sabres have lost eight of their last 10 and have scored only 19 goals during their slide.

Predators 3, Avalanche 2

At Nashville, Tenn., Vernon Fiddler, Shea Weber and David Legwand scored first-period goals, and Pekka Rinne made 19 saves as the Predators beat Colorado.

Ryan Smyth and Wojtek Wolski had first-period scored goals for Colorado.

The Predators are 7-0-0 when leading after the first period and 10-2-0 when scoring the first goal. They're 8-1-0 when Weber scores.

Sharks 3, Blue Jackets 2

At San Jose, Calif., Joe Thornton scored the go-ahead goal with 12:19 to play, and the NHL-leading Sharks shook off a terrible start to earn their ninth straight victory.

Captain Patrick Marleau scored and Jeremy Roenick added his second goal in 26 games for the Sharks, 14-0-1 at home. San Jose survived an early deficit and an unusually sluggish performance with a stellar effort from Evgeni Nabokov, who stopped 29 shots while bailing out his teammates several times.

Fredrik Modin and Rick Nash scored for the Blue Jackets, who opened a three-game California road trip by losing at the Shark Tank for the 15th time in the franchise's 16 trips. Steve Mason, the NHL's top rookie in November, made 19 saves.