Capitals 4, Islanders 2

Matt Niskanen scored two goals in the third period, lifting Washington over New York on Tuesday night for its fifth straight victory.

Brett Connolly and Justin Williams also scored for Washington, which improved to 18-7-3. Dating to a 2-1 overtime loss at Tampa Bay, the Capitals have earned 11 out of a possible 12 points.

Following a five-game winning streak, the Islanders have dropped their last two. New York's 11-12-5 record is the worst in the Metropolitan Division.

Brock Nelson and Nikolay Kulemin scored for the Islanders, and Jaroslav Halak made 34 saves.

The third meeting of the season between the teams — and second in 12 days — was a tight-checking game. Neither team was able to sustain sequences in the offensive zone, though the Capitals finished with a 38-25 advantage in shots on goal.

Niskanen's wrister from the right circle 1:34 into the third was the game's biggest shot, as it put Washington ahead for good. The defenseman snapped a feed from partner Dmitry Orlov, as all five Islanders were on the left side of the ice.

From there, Braden Holtby made the lead hold up.

Holtby stopped 36 shots, with his two toughest saves coming on Josh Bailey's goal-mouth backhander with 11 minutes left and John Tavares' snap shot from the slot nearly 2 minutes later as the Capitals held onto their one-goal lead.

Niskanen's power-play goal with 1:57 left ended the scoring.

Trailing 1-0 after the first period, it took the Capitals all of 2:09 to draw even on Connolly's third of the season. A scratch in Washington's previous four games, Connolly drove to the net and Lars Eller's centering pass ricocheted off his stick blade.

Washington went ahead 5:28 later on Williams' power-play goal. Jakub Vrana drove to the net and Evgeny Kuznetsov, who was behind the goal line, found him with a pass, and the 20-year-old's shot bounced off Williams.

The Capitals finished 2 for 3 on the man advantage, and killed off both New York power plays.

Despite being outplayed for much of the period, New York was able to tie the game at 2 on Kulemin's goal midway through the second. Kulemin deflected Nick Leddy's point shot past Holtby for his third of the season.

Halak made certain the game stayed tied going into intermission, as he made stops in the final minute on Karl Alzner, Alex Ovechkin and Niskanen, prompting the crowd of 12,730 to chant his name.

New York struck first on Nelson's seventh of the season at 9:32. The left wing was sprung by Cal Clutterbuck's stretch pass, and Nelson fired an end-over-end shot from the top of the left circle that beat Holtby over his glove.

Sabres 6, Kings 3

Jack Eichel scored two goals in a 2:08 span of the second period and assisted on another goal to lead Buffalo in a victory over Los Angeles.

Ryan O'Reilly and Brian Gionta also scored for Buffalo during a four-goal flurry in a 6:13 span of the second period.

Eichel set up Evander Kane for an insurance goal late in the third period and Sam Reinhart scored into an empty net in the final minute.

Kyle Okposo assisted on three of the Sabres' goals, giving him 11 points in his last 10 games and a team-high 21 points this season. Okposo played after missing Monday's practice due to illness.

Robin Lehner made 13 of his 30 saves in the third period and got the win for just the second time in his last 11 starts.

Jeff Carter scored twice for the Kings and Anze Kopitar had the other goal. Peter Budaj made 16 saves before being replaced by Jeff Zatkoff in the second period. Zatkoff stopped two shots.

The Kings have lost three of four and have not won in Buffalo since Feb. 21, 2003.

The Sabres entered the night as the NHL's lowest-scoring team with 56 goals through 27 games, but they scored four goals in a period for the first time since Dec. 26, 2015, turning a two-goal deficit into a two-goal lead.

O'Reilly scored at 9:31 of the second when he circled from behind the net and lifted a backhand from the slot over Budaj's glove.

Eichel tied the game with 6:24 left in the period on a backhand pass from the blue line that slid by Budaj.

Gionta gave the Sabres the lead 12 seconds later when he deflected Brian Gorges' wrist shot from the point. Budaj was benched after the third goal.

Eichel scored his fifth goal in seven games on a wrist shot from the slot to make it 4-2 with 4:16 remaining.

Carter scored his team-leading 14th goal 4:03 into the third period and beat Lehner on a breakaway 7:34 into the second period to put the Kings ahead 2-0.

Kopitar gave the Kings the lead 3 minutes into the game when he muscled his way around O'Reilly and jammed the puck between Lehner's pads. It was Kopitar's first goal since Oct. 25 and his 246th with the Kings, tying him with Wayne Gretzky for sixth on the all-time list.

Hurricanes 8, Canucks 6

Justin Faulk scored the go-ahead goal 5:56 into the third period, and Carolina rallied from three goals down to beat Vancouver.

Jeff Skinner scored two goals, with his second starting Carolina's wild comeback. The Hurricanes scored six goals in the third — including four in a 4:40 span — to erase a 5-2 deficit.

Ron Hainsey and Victor Rask scored 24 seconds apart before Faulk put Carolina back up with a wrist shot that clicked off Nikita Tryamkin on its way past Ryan Miller.

Jordan Staal added an insurance goal with 7:22 left, and Brandon Sutter made it 7-6 with 5:50 to play before Lee Stempniak scored an empty-netter with 57.6 seconds remaining.

Sven Baertschi had two goals and an assist for the Canucks. Baertschi, Alexandre Burrows, Markus Granlund and Ben Hutton all scored during Vancouver's four-goal second period.

Coyotes 4, Red Wings 1

Jamie McGinn scored twice and Arizona beat Detroit.

Lawson Crouse and defenseman Anthony DeAngelo also scored for Arizona. Peter Holland had two assists in his Coyotes debut, and Mike Smith made 37 saves.

Andreas Athanasiou scored for Detroit, and Jimmy Howard stopped 15 shots.

DeAngelo's power-play goal opened the scoring 2:01 into the game. His shot from the left faceoff dot beat Howard on the short side. It was DeAngelo's third goal.

Athanasiou tied it with 3:48 left in the first period. The rebound of Gustav Nyquist's shot off the rush went in off Athanasiou's skate for his fifth goal.

Crouse gave Arizona a 2-1 lead with 16 seconds remaining in the first. He headed toward the net while battling Red Wings defenseman Mike Green, and Crouse's backhand shot trickled through Howard for his second goal.

Sharks 3, Maple Leafs 2

Logan Couture scored the only goal in a shootout, and San Jose rallied for a win over Toronto.

San Jose trailed 2-0 before Justin Braun and Joe Pavelski scored in a quick burst in the third period. Martin Jones made 29 saves in the opener of a four-game road trip.

Zach Hyman and Auston Matthews scored for Toronto, which has dropped five of six. Frederik Andersen made 40 stops.

Jones denied Mitchell Marner, Matthews and Nikita Soshnikov in the tiebreaker, and Couture was successful in the second round.