Devils’ Elias on Fire

Patrik Elias had his second hat trick in 10 games Tuesday night as the New Jersey Devils defeated the Washington Capitals, 6-4, in a battle of division champions at Washington.

Elias scored his 36th, 37th and 38th goals, including two in a row to break a 3-3 tie, as the Devils won for the 17th time in 19 games in their bid for the No. 1 seeding in the Eastern Conference playoffs. New Jersey, which clinched the Atlantic Division title, has won eight in a row on the road.

Sergei Gonchar, Trevor Linden, Andrei Nikolishin and Steve Konowalchuk scored for the Southeast Division champion Capitals, who have won only twice in 10 games.

Florida 2, Philadelphia 1--Pavel Bure scored his team-record 59th goal and Len Barrie added the winner midway through the third period at Philadelphia.

Atlanta 5, Ottawa 2--Patrik Stefan’s goal with 2:16 to play broke a 2-2 tie at Atlanta and lifted the Thrashers over the Senators, hurting Ottawa’s bid for the top seeding in the Eastern Conference. The Senators fell two points behind New Jersey.

Columbus 2, Detroit 1--Ron Tugnutt tied the record for victories by an expansion goalie with his 21st, and Mike Maneluk scored the go-ahead goal with 7:26 to play at Columbus, Ohio.

St. Louis 2, Carolina 2--Chris Pronger had a goal and an assist in his second game back from a broken arm as the Blues tied the Hurricanes at St. Louis.