UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Sidney Crosby scored a goal and set up two by Evgeni Malkin in a 5:35 span of the third period for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who rallied for a 5-3 win against the New York Islanders on Wednesday night.

Malkin finished with a hat trick – all in the confines of the third period – when he sealed the win with an empty-netter with 17.5 seconds left.

Just as they did less than three weeks earlier at Nassau Coliseum, the Penguins wiped out New York’s 3-1 lead in the third. At least on Nov. 8 the Islanders earned a point with the 4-3 shootout loss. They had nothing to show for this effort that produced a 3-0 edge midway through the second.

Flyers 3, Hurricanes 1

RALEIGH, N.C. – Simon Gagne had two goals and an assist to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to their sixth straight victory, 3-1 over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Matt Carle scored the go-ahead goal with just under 18 minutes left for the Flyers, who are on their longest winning streak in more than three years. Gagne started the decisive sequence by leading an odd-man rush during a 4-on-4 play.

Capitals 5, Thrashers 3

WASHINGTON – Alex Ovechkin had his sixth career hat trick and added an assist to help the Washington Capitals end a three-game losing streak with a 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers.

Eric Fehr and Viktor Kozlov added goals for Washington.

Coyotes 3, Blue Jackets 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Viktor Tikhonov’s goal with 2:32 remaining helped Phoenix beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2, ending the Coyotes’ six-game losing skid.

The Coyotes had just weathered almost a minute with a two-man disadvantage when captain Shane Doan dug the puck off the back wall and backhanded a pass to Tikhonov, who was skating from right to left along the goal line. He deked with the puck and slid it past goaltender Steve Mason .

Rangers 3, Lightning 2

TAMPA, Fla. – Markus Naslund scored twice and had one of two New York goals in a shootout to lead the Rangers past the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2.

Nikolai Zherdev had two assists, and also scored in the shootout. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 shots in regulation and also turned aside both Tampa Bay shots during the shootout.

Canadiens 3, Red Wings 1

DETROIT – Carey Price made 32 saves, and Maxim Lapierre, Tomas Plekanec and Christopher Higgins scored second-period goals in the Montreal Canadiens’ 3-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night.

Johan Franzen scored for Detroit, and Ty Conklin stopped 22 shots.

Devils 3, Panthers 2

SUNRISE, Fla. – Johnny Oduya scored with 55.5 seconds left in overtime to give New Jersey a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers, the Devils’ fifth consecutive victory.

Florida sent the game to overtime with two goals in the last 2:19 of regulation, including David Booth’s goal with 7.2 seconds left.

Scott Clemmensen stopped 35 shots, and Brian Gionta and Travis Zajac also scored for New Jersey, 6-5 since goalie Martin Brodeur was sidelined by a torn biceps.

Jay Bouwmeester added a goal for Florida.