3 
4 (SO)They did it again. An epic battle from start to finish, with a back-and-forth regulation, a frantic overtime, and a shootout that was an unbelievable game all in itself; and it wasn't all about Crosby and Ovechkin this time.
Jose Theodore stood his ground in a scoreless first period, stopping 17 Pittsburgh shots. The 1st goal of the game came from Mike Knuble 1:09 into the 2nd period to give Washington a 1-0 lead. After the goal, Marc-Andre Fleury shined for the rest of the 2nd period.
Maxime Talbot and Bill Guerin scored for the Penguins in the 2nd, and Pittsburgh took a 2-1 lead into the 3rd period.
In the 3rd, it was the other Alex that stole the show. With the Capitals short-handed, Alexander Semin intercepted a Sidney Crosby pass in the defensive zone, and raced down the ice. He cut to the slot and unleashed a wicked wrist shot to wake up the 50th consecutive sellout crowd at Verizon Center.
Almost 2 minutes later, Eric Fehr deflected a Mike Green shot and put Washington up 3-2. Jose Theodore continued to play awfully well throughout the 3rd period including a huge save that preserved the Capitals lead for the time being with about 3:30 left in regulation.
But with 3:06 remaining, Jordan Staal snapped a wrist shot that eluded the glove of the screened Theodore, tying the game at 3 for Pittsburgh.
A back-and-forth overtime couldn't solve it, and then came the shootout.
The home team has the opportunity to choose whether they want to shoot first or not in the shootout, and most of the time, they choose to go first. But the Capitals let the Penguins shoot first in this one, and it didn't get off to a good start.
Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby scored on the Penguins' first 2 shots of the shootout, but then everything that had to go right for the Capitals did go right, as they scored 3-straight goals and won the shootout 3-2. Ovechkin kept it alive in the 2nd round, Semin in the 3rd, and Mike Knuble, who was 0-for-3 in shootout attempts in his career, scored in the 4th round to win it for Washington.
Jose Theodore is 17-0-2 in his last 19 games, and the Capitals are 27-4-4 at home.
The Penguins were without Evgeni Malkin for the 11th game this season. They have won only 3 of those games, and Sidney Crosby hasn't scored a goal in any of them.
The win gives the Capitals 108 points on the season, 17 points ahead of the 2nd-place Penguins in the East. The point for the Penguins, however, moves them into 1st-place in the Atlantic Division, a point up on the Devils, but they have played 2 more games than New Jersey.
These two teams meet for the final time in the regular season in Pittsburgh on April 6th.
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3 
4 (SO)On Monday in L.A., the Avalanche tied the game against the Kings late in the 3rd period to get a point, but lost it in overtime. On Wednesday in Denver, the opposite happened.
Colorado's Matt Hendricks started the scoring 7:38 into the 1st period, and Anze Kopitar tied it for the Kings just over 2 minutes later.
But Milan Hejduk and Paul Stastny would score power-play goals for the Avalanche in the 1st period to give them a 3-1 lead and have the Kings pull Jonathan Quick. Erik Ersberg came in for the 1st time in 11 games and stopped all of the final 14 shots, keeping L.A. in the game.
After a scoreless 2nd period, Drew Doughty scored on the power-play only 40 seconds into the 3rd to cut the lead to 3-2. And with only 1:21 left in regulation, Alexander Frolov would tuck in the game-tying goal, again on the power-play.
The game would go to a shootout, where the Avalanche prevailed. Craig Anderson stopped 27 shots for Colorado.
Colorado's win gives them 89 points on the year and moves them to 6th in the West. They are tied in points with Nashville but have a game-in-hand on the Predators. The big point for the Kings moves them up to 90 and gives them sole possession of 5th in the West. They have a game-in-hand on Colorado and 2 on Nashville. They also have 2 on the Coyotes, the team they trail by 7 points for 4th.
The Kings play in Denver again for their last game of the regular season, April 11th.
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Islanders 0 Rangers 5
In the 1st-ever live sports event telecast in 3D, the Rangers dominated their New York rivals. Henrik Lunqvist recorded 27 saves for his 3rd shutout of the season. The huge win for the Rangers gives them 73 points, 2 points behind the 9th-place Thrashers, and 5 points behind Boston for the 8th and final playoff spot in the East. The Islanders have 68 points and are 14th in the East.
Canadiens 2 Sabres 3 (SO)
Montreal was 2 minutes away from a shutout. That disappeared when Tim Connolly scored for Buffalo with 1:59 left in regulation to cut the lead to 2-1. The lead disappeared with 48 seconds left in regulation, when Paul Gaustad scored for the Sabres while Ryan Miller was on the bench for an extra attacker. And the win disappeared when Buffalo capped the stunning comeback in a shootout. Buffalo now has 90 points, leading the Northeast Division by 7, and sitting 1 point behind the Penguins for 2nd in the East. Montreal's point moves them up to 80, and they take possession of 6th in the East, 1 point up on 7th-place Philadelphia and 2 points up on 8th-place Boston.
Blues 2 Red Wings 4
Everybody has continued to say that the Red Wings will end up making the playoffs and be one of the toughest 8th-seeds a team could ever play. But if they keep playing like this in the final 9 games of the year, they won't be an 8th-seed. Their 3rd win in-a-row gives them 87 points, moving them to within 2 points of the Avalanche and Predators, who are tied for 6th. They are now 4 points up on the 9th-place Flames. St Louis sits 11th in the West with 77 points.
Ducks 1 Canucks 4
Vancouver bounces back from their loss in Edmonton and all but eliminates Anaheim from the playoffs. The Canucks win gives them 94 points, as they hold a 5-point lead over Colorado for 1st in the Northwest Division. They are 3rd in the West, 4 points behind 2nd-place San Jose. Anaheim is in 13th-place with 76 points, and their 2nd-straight loss now has them 11 points back of a playoff spot.
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Thursday's Schedule (ET):
Lightning @ Bruins, 7:00
Rangers @ Devils, 7:00
Flames @ Islanders, 7:00
Wild @ Flyers, 7:00
Capitals @ Hurricanes, 7:00, CSN
Maple Leafs @ Thrashers, 7:00
Blackhawks @ Blue Jackets, 7:00
Panthers @ Canadiens, 7:30
Kings @ Blues, 8:00, FS West
Coyotes @ Predators, 8:00
Stars @ Sharks, 10:30, NHL Network
