Washington Wins on Overtime Goal

Playing the league’s top team with a lineup that suggested they’d thrown in the towel, the Washington Capitals held on to their faint playoff hopes.

With many veterans out of the lineup, the Capitals somehow defeated the Dallas Stars, 2-1, at Washington on Wednesday night as Brian Bellows’ power-play goal 35 seconds into overtime ended their four-game winless streak.

It was the first time this season the Capitals have won a game they trailed after two periods.

The Capitals started their backup goaltender, Rick Tabaracci. Before the game, the veterans joked about who would be traded to which playoff team. Peter Bondra, Yogi Svejkovsky, Joe Juneau and Sergei Gonchar were all rested because of minor injuries they probably would ignore if it were a big game.

“You may say the season’s over,” Coach Ron Wilson said. “And I don’t think it is. So, we had a meat-and-potatoes lineup in there, and we were successful. I’ll use the same lineup in Montreal [for Saturday’s game against the Canadiens] because those guys deserve to play again.”

San Jose 4, Florida 2--Patrick Marleau scored two first-period goals for the Sharks at San Jose.

Pittsburgh 2, Tampa Bay 0--Rookie Jean Sebastien Aubin gained the second shutout of his 11-game NHL career, facing only 16 shots at Tampa, Fla.

New Jersey 4, Edmonton 1--Jason Arnott scored two goals at Edmonton.

Boston 4, Toronto 1--The Bruins scored three goals in the last 6:31 at Toronto, getting the tie-breaker from Jason Allison on a breakaway. Dmitri Khristich assisted on Allison’s goal for his 500th NHL point.

Phoenix 4, Detroit 3--Keith Tkachuk’s goal with one second to play lifted the Coyotes at Detroit.

Chicago 3, Calgary 1--Tony Amonte scored two goals late in the third period at Chicago.

Around the League

Coach Roger Neilson of the Philadelphia Flyers is scheduled to have a conference call today with the NHL to determine what, if any, disciplinary action will result from his stick-throwing incident Tuesday at St. Louis. Neilson, who tossed a stick in the direction of referee Bill McCreary to protest the lack of a penalty call on which St. Louis scored, narrowly missed linesman Lonnie Cameron with the stick. . . . Kirk Maltby of the Detroit Red Wings was suspended for four games for slashing Colorado Avalanche winger Valeri Kamensky. . . . The Phoenix Coyotes, struggling to maintain home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, signed veteran free-agent right wing Brian Noonan. . . . John Rigas, chairman of the board of the Buffalo Sabres and founder, chief executive and president of Adelphia Communications Corp., was listed in satisfactory condition after undergoing heart bypass surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.