The Washington Capitals want Michael Nylander to shoot more, and it’s easy to see why.
Nylander scored twice for the first time since Dec. 29, 2007, and the Capitals snapped the New Jersey Devils’ season-high eight-game winning streak with a 5-2 victory.
Unlike Alex Ovechkin, Nylander sees himself as a passer and tends to eschew scoring chances.
Tuesday night was an exception.
“He doesn’t like to shoot,” Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. “We have a few of those guys, and then we have one guy who shoots every chance he gets. He makes up for those guys.”
In other NHL games Tuesday night, it was: Los Angeles 1, Ottawa 0; Chicago 3, Edmonton 1; Atlanta 2, the New York Rangers 1 in a shootout; Montreal 4, Pittsburgh 2; the New York Islanders 3, Tampa Bay 1; Vancouver 4, Carolina 3; Florida 4, Toronto 3 in overtime; Dallas 3, Calgary 1; St. Louis 4, Columbus 2; and Nashville 2, Phoenix 1.
ted three of four power plays to win their third straight.
Brooks Laich and Eric Fehr also scored and Jose Theodore made 32 saves in handing the Devils their first loss since Jan. 11.
Jamie Langenbrunner and Brian Rolston scored for New Jersey in a matchup of Atlantic and Southeast division leaders.
The Devils fell three points behind Washington for the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference.
“I’m still trying to figure out why we played like this against an opponent who is a game up on us in the standings,” coach Brent Sutter said.
Kings 1, Senators 0
At Ottawa, Michal Handzus scored in the third period and Los Angeles spoiled Cory Clouston’s first game as Senators coach.
Jonathan Quick made 29 saves for his third shutout of the season and improved to 4-1-0 in five starts.
Clouston took over after Craig Hartsburg was fired Sunday night.
Brian Elliot stopped 25 shots for Ottawa.
Blackhawks 3, Oilers 1
At Edmonton, Alberta, Martin Havlat and Dave Bolland each had a goal and an assist for Chicago.
Cam Barker also scored for the Blackhawks, who have won three of the first four games on a difficult eight-game trip.
Ethan Moreau scored for the Oilers, who lost their second straight.
Thrashers 2, Rangers 1, SO
nd stopped two more shots in the shootout to help Atlanta shake off a late blown lead.
The Thrashers were primed to win 1-0 on Joe Motzko’s third-period goal before Markus Naslund got the Rangers even with only 10.7 seconds remaining in regulation.
Atlanta snapped a four-game skid. New York has lost three straight (0-2-1).
Canadiens 4, Penguins 2
At Montreal, Chris Higgins and Maxim Lapierre scored second-period goals and Andrei Kostitsyn scored with 4:15 left to seal it for the Canadiens.
Carey Price made 23 saves for Montreal.
Evgeni Malkin and Luca Caputi scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 31 shots for Pittsburgh.
Islanders 3, Lightning 1
At Uniondale, N.Y., Yann Danis stopped 29 shots and the Islanders earned their season-best fourth straight victory.
Trent Hunter, Mark Streit and Radek Martinek scored in the second period for New York.
Vincent Lecavalier scored for Tampa Bay, which has lost three consecutive games after winning three in a row.
Canucks 4, Hurricanes 3
At Vancouver, British Columbia, Alex Burrows scored on a short-handed breakaway with 1:22 left and the Canucks ended an eight-game skid.
anen to a loose puck and chipped it up to Burrows, who skated in alone from the blue line and roofed a backhand deke past the outstretched blocker of goalie Cam Ward.
Kesler had a goal and two assists, and Mats Sundin and Kevin Bieksa also scored as the Canucks also ended a nine-game home skid (0-6-3).
Joe Corvo, Pitkanen and Eric Staal scored for Carolina.
Panthers 4, Maple Leafs 3, OT
At Toronto, Bryan McCabe scored 3:30 into overtime to lift the Panthers past his former team.
Gregory Campbell, Stephen Weiss and Cory Stillman also scored for Florida, which trailed 3-1 heading into the final period.
Niklas Hagman, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Nik Antropov scored for the Maple Leafs, who had a two-game win streak snapped.
Stars 3, Flames 1
At Dallas, Jere Lehtinen and rookie James Neal scored power-play goals and the Stars stretched their season-best winning streak to five.
Marty Turco stopped 24 shots for the Stars, 9-1-1 in their past 11 home games.
Michael Cammalleri scored and Miikka Kiprusoff made 29 saves for Calgary.
Blues 4, Blue Jackets 2
At Columbus, Ohio, Brad Boyes and Jay McClement each scored twice and Carlo Colaiacovo added two assists for the Blues.
Fedor Tyutin had a goal and an assist and R.J. Umberger also scored for Columbus.
2, Coyotes 1
At Nashville, Tenn., Jason Arnott and Radek Bonk each scored to lead the Predators to their second straight win.
Joel Perrault scored for Phoenix, which lost its fourth in a row.
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