Ovechkin scores twice in Caps win

ATLANTA — Alex Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 12th and 13th goals, Semyon Varlamov stopped a penalty shot and the first-place Washington Capitals held on at the end to hand Atlanta its fourth straight loss, 4-3 on Thursday night.

Ovechkin didn't get a chance to go against fellow Russian Ilya Kovalchuk. Atlanta's star sat out his first game since breaking his right foot last weekend.

The Capitals built a 3-0 lead and survived a wild finish. Three goals were scored in the last 2:23, including an empty-netter by Washington's Mike Knuble and Zach Bogosian's second goal of the game for Atlanta just before the buzzer.

Varlamov stopped Jim Slater on a penalty shot in the first period and baled out the Capitals when Atlanta dominated over the final two periods.

Brendan Morrison also scored for Washington.

Todd White added a goal for Atlanta.
Lightning 5, Senators 2

TAMPA, Fla. — Steven Stamkos had two power-play goals and an assist, and Todd Fedoruk, Ryan Malone and Alex Tanguay also scored for Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis played in his 700th NHL games and extended his franchise-record season-opening points streak to 10 games (11 assists, 14 points) with an assist. The NHL record is 51 games, set by Wayne Gretzky in 1983-84. St. Louis missed the net to the right on short-handed penalty shot in the second.

Jarkko Ruutu and Alex Kovalev scored for Ottawa.