NHL Capsules

NEW YORK (AP) - Carl Hagelin scored twice for his second multigoal game in the NHL and Henrik Lundqvist stopped all 28 shots he faced as the New York Rangers beat the New York Islanders 3-0 on Monday night for their fifth straight victory.

Hagelin, in just his 16th career game, scored in the second and third periods for the surging Rangers (22-8-4). The Atlantic Division leaders who leapfrogged defending Stanley Cup champion Boston into first place in the Eastern Conference.

The Rangers finished a 3-0 homestand that included a pair of victories over the Islanders in a five-day span. New York's past four victories have been against division rivals.

Lundqvist improved to 23-11-5 against the Islanders with four shutouts. He has three shutouts overall this season and 38 in seven NHL seasons.

Marian Gaborik sealed the win with his league-leading 22nd goal - an empty-netter with 2:28 left. Gaborik scored for the fifth straight game, netting seven in the span, and matched his goal total for all of last season.

AVALANCHE 4, WILD 2

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Jan Hejda scored the go-ahead goal at 10:20 of the third period and Colorado snapped a nine-game road losing skid by beating Minnesota.

The Avalanche won on the road for the first time since Oct. 22 and extended Minnesota's winless streak to seven games.

Ryan O'Reilly, Gabriel Landeskog and TJ Galiardi also scored for Colorado.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Cal Clutterbuck scored for the Wild. Team captain and leading scorer Mikko Koivu returned after missing the last four games with a leg injury and had an assist.

SABRES 4, CAPITALS 2

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Brayden McNabb capped Buffalo's four-goal first period with his first NHL goal and the Sabres cruised past Washington.

Jason Pominville, Matt Ellis and Christian Ehrhoff also scored in the first period for the Sabres, who snapped a three-game skid to improve to 4-6-2 in their last 12 games.

Ryan Miller, making his sixth straight start, finished with 20 saves.

Matt Hendricks and Alex Ovechkin scored for Washington, which fell to 1-2-1 in its last four.

Michal Neuvirth started for the fifth straight time, but was pulled midway through the first period after allowing three goals on six shots.

HURRICANES 4, DEVILS 2

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Cam Ward made 23 saves and was credited with a bizarre empty-net goal, leading Carolina past New Jersey.

Brandon Sutter had a short-handed goal, Tuomo Ruutu and Anthony Stewart scored in the second period, and Tim Gleason and Tim Brent each had two assists for the Hurricanes.

Ward's first career goal came at the end of a strange sequence. Ilya Kovalchuk's errant pass for Adam Henrique from the end line wound up going the length of the ice and into an empty net with 29.4 seconds left.

Officials initially awarded the goal to Sutter before a postgame review determined he never touched the puck.

David Clarkson had a goal and an assist for New Jersey. He and Henrique scored in the third period and Johan Hedberg made 30 saves for the Devils, who had won seven of nine.

BLUES 5, STARS 3

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Adam Cracknell, recalled from the minors earlier in the day, put St. Louis ahead for good in the second period and the Blues scored two rare power-play goals in a win over Dallas.

St. Louis, which won its sixth successive home game, improved to 7-1-1 in its last nine. The Blues are 15-3-4 under coach Ken Hitchcock, who took over Nov. 6 after Davis Payne was fired.

Dallas lost for the third time in eight games. The Stars had won their previous five against St. Louis.

Chris Stewart scored twice for St. Louis, including an empty-net goal with 50 seconds left.

Evgeny Grachev, Chris Stewart and Jason Arnott also scored for the Blues, who are 14-3-1 at home.

Mike Ribeiro, Eric Nystrom and Michael Ryder scored for the Stars.

RED WINGS 4, PREDATORS 1

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Valtteri Filppula scored a pair of goals to lead Detroit over Nashville.

Pavel Datsyuk and Danny Cleary also scored for the Red Wings, who scored twice in a span of 13 seconds during the second period and stopped a two-game skid. Jimmy Howard made 31 saves.

Jonathon Blum scored for the Predators, who have lost three of four.