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Capitals 4, Blues 2

At Washington, Viktor Kozlov had two goals and an assist, and the Capitals extended their winning streak to five games by beating struggling St. Louis.

Tomas Fleischmann and Alex Ovechkin also scored for the Capitals, who have won seven of eight overall and improved to 13-1-1 at home. Simeon Varlamov, summoned from Hershey of the AHL because Jose Theodore is sidelined due to a hip flexor injury, made 29 saves.

David Backes scored for the third consecutive game, and Brad Winchester also had a goal for the Blues, who have dropped five straight.

Three Capitals goals in a span of 3:07 beginning late in the second period turned a 1-1 tie into a one-sided affair. Washington notched its 20th victory in its 33rd game. Last season, it took the Capitals 46 games to reach that mark.

Red Wings 6, Sharks 0

At Detroit, Ty Conklin made 24 saves for his sixth NHL shutout and Pavel Datsyuk had two goals and two assists to lift the Red Wings to a win over San Jose.

San Jose has the NHL's best record (25-4-3), but the Sharks lost for the second straight night. They fell at Columbus 2-1 in overtime on Wednesday. The defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings have the second-best record in the Western Conference (21-6-4).

Marian Hossa had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings and Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula and Brad Stuart also scored. Brett Lebda added two assists in Conklin's second shutout of the season.

Evgeni Nabokov stopped 22 shots for San Jose.

Hurricanes 2, Panthers 1 (OT)

At Raleigh, N.C., Joe Corvo scored with 43.3 seconds left in overtime to lift Carolina past Florida.

Justin Williams scored his first goal in nearly 13 months and Whitney had two assists for Carolina, which held a 37-20 shots advantage.

The Hurricanes have won 15 of 16 at home against the Panthers, though the lone loss in that stretch came in April and kept Carolina out of the playoffs.

Former Hurricanes forward Cory Stillman tied it with 17 minutes left in regulation, and Tomas Vokoun finished with 35 saves for the Panthers.

Cam Ward stopped 19 shots for the Hurricanes, who have earned points in six of seven games since Paul Maurice was rehired as coach.

Penguins 6, Thrashers 3

At Atlanta, Evgeni Malkin, the NHL leader with 53 points, had two goals and two assists, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves in his return to the lineup as Pittsburgh beat the Thrashers.

The Penguins had lost four of five and were 5-6-2 since Fleury last played on Nov. 15 in a victory over Buffalo. He kept Pittsburgh in it as Atlanta held a 31-19 shots advantage.

Malkin netted his 13th goal in the first period, added his 38th and 39th assist in the second period, and scored into an empty net with 26.2 seconds left. He has 14 points during a seven-game scoring streak.

Matt Cooke, Jordan Staal, Miroslav Satan and Phillippe Boucher had the other goals for Pittsburgh. Marty Reasoner, Bryan Little and Colby Armstrong tallied Atlanta's goals.

Avalanche 2, Lightning 1 (SO)

At Tampa, Fla., Milan Hejduk was awarded the lone goal in a shootout when Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith was penalized for throwing his stick, and Colorado edged the Lightning.

Smith's stick came loose when he was making a save on Hejduk's backhander. After discussing the play for several minutes, the officials awarded the goal.

Paul Stastny had the Colorado goal in regulation, and Andrew Raycroft stopped 37 shots.

Jeff Halpern, playing in his first game of the season after being sidelined by a knee injury, scored for Tampa Bay, which has lost 16 of 18. Smith made 34 saves.

Tampa Bay is 4-14 in one-goal games.

Coyotes 2, Predators 1

At Glendale, Ariz., Kyle Turris recorded his first two-goal game, including the go-ahead score with 9:58 left, and Phoenix edged Nashville.

Ilya Bryzgalov made 30 saves for the Coyotes, who snapped a two-game losing streak and leapfrogged Nashville and idle Minnesota into seventh place in the Western Conference.

Vernon Fiddler scored the lone goal for the Predators, who lost for the fourth time in five games.

Stars 6, Blue Jackets 5 (SO)

At Dallas, Loui Eriksson's hat trick got the Stars into overtime, and Brad Richards and Mike Ribeiro scored in the shootout to give Dallas a victory over Columbus.

Eriksson registered his first three-goal effort in the NHL, giving him five goals in two games. Richards added a goal and three assists, and James Neal had a power-play tally for the Stars.

Rick Nash had two goals and an assist. Derick Brassard, R.J. Umberger and Huselius also scored for the Blue Jackets, who beat the NHL-leading San Jose Sharks 2-1 in overtime at home on Wednesday.

The Blue Jackets thought they netted the winning goal 13 seconds into overtime on Manny Malhotra's apparent goal, but after a video review, officials ruled the puck was kicked into the net.