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By: The Associated Press

Posted: 03/19/2013 10:18 PM | Comments: 0 | Last Modified: 03/20/2013 9:40 AM

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Matt Niskanen (2) celebrates his third-period goal with center Sidney Crosby (87) in an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals in Pittsburgh Tuesday, March 19, 2013. The Penguins won 2-1. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Defenceman Matt Niskanen scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, Sidney Crosby had two assists, and the Pittsburgh Penguins extended their winning streak to 10 with a 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night.

Niskanen's goal at 11:58 came nine seconds after the Eastern Conference-leading Penguins killed a four-minute penalty.

The winning streak is the second-longest in the NHL this season.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves, and Crosby earned his NHL-leading 36th and 37th assists for the Penguins, who were without reigning MVP Evgeni Malkin (shoulder) for a sixth game.

Braden Holtby made 34 saves for Washington.

Alex Ovechkin gave Washington a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal in the second period, and Pittsburgh tied it three minutes later when Paul Martin scored his sixth of the season. It was the Penguins' league-leading 28th goal on the power play.

RANGERS 3, DEVILS 2

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Michael Del Zotto scored a short-handed goal and set up Rick Nash's game winner to lead the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over struggling New Jersey.

Carl Hagelin also scored and Henrik Lundqvist had 29 saves as the Rangers won their second game in two nights after a three-game losing streak. New York moved into a tie for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Travis Zajac and Anton Volchenkov scored for New Jersey, which lost its third in a row (0-2-1) and slipped into a tie with New York, which has a game in hand.

Devils goalie Martin Brodeur was on the bench for the first time in a month and is expected to play Thursday. New Jersey is 3-8-2 since he went down.

Johan Hedberg, who started all 13 games since Brodeur sustained a pinched nerve in his back, made 19 saves.

SENATORS 5, ISLANDERS 3

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Sergei Gonchar scored with 1 minute left for Ottawa, which netted four goals in the third period and rallied to beat the New York Islanders.

Gonchar's second goal of the season came on a blast from the point to make it 4-3, and Guillaume Latendresse added an empty-net goal to seal the win. Jakob Silfverberg and Zack Smith scored in a 68-second span early in the third period to tie the game after the Islanders led 3-1.

Ottawa has won three straight.

New York's Josh Bailey had scored the go-ahead goal 14 seconds into the second period, and Lubomir Visnovsky extended the Islanders' lead to two goals.

Keith Aucoin appeared to give the Islanders a 4-3 lead at 7:22, but the goal was disallowed because he kicked the puck past goalie Ben Bishop.

Ottawa's Matt Kassian opened the scoring at 6:23 with his first goal of the season and first with the Senators.

KINGS 3, COYOTES 2

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jonathan Bernier made a career-high 40 saves, defenceman Drew Doughty ended a 32-game, regular-season goal drought, and Los Angeles beat Phoenix.

Shane Doan scored twice in the third period for the Coyotes, who were shut out in their three previous games.

Bernier extended Phoenix's scoreless drought to 245 minutes, 32 seconds since rookie Rob Klinkhammer's goal against Jonathan Quick in the Coyotes' 5-2 win over the Kings on March 12. The Coyotes had been stopped on 133 consecutive shots before Doan's first goal.

Dustin Penner and Jarret Stoll also scored for the Kings, who have won 12 of 16 games and 11 of 12 at home. Stoll connected on a power play with 6:14 remaining.

Phoenix's Mike Smith, who was pulled from Monday's game after giving up four goals on 22 shots, made 26 saves in the rematch against an offence that came in averaging four goals at home.

PANTHERS 4, HURRICANES 1

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Tomas Fleischmann, Marcel Goc and Shawn Matthias scored 6:12 apart in the third period to lead Florida past Carolina.

Jacob Markstrom stopped 33 shots, and Filip Kuba had two assists.

The last-place Panthers scored the first three goals and held on to snap their six-game losing streak.

Markstrom was 2:33 from a shutout when Jordan Staal scored for Carolina.

Dan Ellis stopped 40 shots for the Hurricanes, who lost their fourth straight.

BLUE JACKETS 4, PREDATORS 3

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Sergei Bobrovksy shook off a slap shot to his mask and withstood two late goals, and Mark Letestu had a goal and an assist as Columbus beat struggling Nashville to extend its franchise-record point streak to 11 games.

Fedor Tyutin, Nikita Nikitin and Derick Brassard also scored for Columbus, which is on a 7-0-4 run. Vinny Prospal added three assists.

Bobrovsky, who made 32 saves, came in on a 6-0-2 spurt with two shutouts in the previous eight games. Jack Johnson had two assists for the Blue Jackets, whose previous four games were decided by shootouts.

Gabriel Bourque, Chris Mueller and Mike Fisher scored for the Predators, who are on a season-worst, four-game skid. Shea Webber added two assists but Nashville fell to 3-9-1 in its last 13 games. Nashville has allowed 20 goals in its last four games.

SABRES 3, CANADIENS 2, OT

MONTREAL (AP) — Steve Ott's second goal of the game at 2:16 of overtime lifted Buffalo over Montreal.

P.K. Subban was off after his stick clipped Mark Pysyk and, with 2 seconds left in the man advantage, Ott was at the doorstep to shovel in a rebound and give Buffalo its second win in eight games.

Ott and Tyler Ennis scored in the opening period for the Sabres, who are 5-5-3 under coach Ron Rolston since Lindy Ruff was fired Feb. 20.

The Canadiens entered the third period down 2-0, but got goals from Max Pacioretty and Colby Armstrong to tie it and avoid their second regulation loss in 18 games. Armstrong scored his second goal of the season and second in two games.

JETS 3, BRUINS 1

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Blake Wheeler and Evander Kane scored 57 seconds apart in the third period, and Winnipeg rallied to beat Boston.

Wheeler added an empty-net goal for the Jets, who passed Carolina to take the lead in the Southeast Division with 34 points.

Brad Marchand scored for the Bruins, who dropped their second straight and are two points back of Montreal for the lead in the Northeast.

CANUCKS 3, BLUES 2

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Daniel Sedin had a goal and an assist, and Cory Schneider made 32 saves in Vancouver's victory over St. Louis.

Jannik Hansen and Dale Weise also scored for Vancouver (14-9-6), which ended a two-game losing streak.

Jaden Schwartz and Patrik Berglund both scored in the third period for the Blues (16-11-2), who lost for only the second time in seven games. St. Louis had won three straight with rookie goalie Jake Allen. He stopped 16 Canucks shots.

The Blues outshot the Canucks 34-19. Vancouver managed only a total of five shots in the first and third periods.

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