Capitals’ Win Extends Unbeaten Streak to 12

The Carolina Hurricanes came away from a 2-1 loss to Washington wishing they were more like the Capitals.

Andrei Nikolishin scored with 8:47 left as Washington extended its unbeaten streak to 12 Saturday night at Raleigh, N.C.

“They play an outstanding team game,” Carolina’s Jeff O’Neill said. “Everybody knows their role and they do it well. . . . They are the best team in the league right now and they showed us why tonight.”

The Hurricanes had a final chance on the power play, but David Tanabe hit the right post with 6:13 remaining.

The 10-0-2 streak by the Capitals is the team’s best since 1984.

St. Louis 3, Boston 2--Chris Pronger had a goal and two assists in his return from arthroscopic knee surgery and Pierre Turgeon scored 1:20 into overtime to lift the Blues at St. Louis.

Pronger was back after being sidelined for 15 games. His goal with 1:12 left in regulation tied the score at 2-2.

Nashville 2, Minnesota 1--Scott Walker scored a power-play goal and Mike Dunham made 28 saves to lead the Predators at Nashville.

Nashville stayed one point behind the ninth-place Kings in the Western Conference.

Toronto 5, Montreal 1--Steve Thomas, Sergei Berezin, Garry Valk and former Canadiens Jonas Hoglund and Shayne Corson scored for the Maple Leafs at Toronto.

Tampa Bay 0, Philadelphia 0--Philadelphia’s Roman Cechmanek made 36 saves and Kevin Weekes stopped 27 shots for Tampa Bay at Philadelphia.

New York Islanders 5, Florida 4--Mariusz Czerkawski scored twice and added an assist as the Islanders built a four-goal lead, then held on for a victory at Uniondale, N.Y.

The Panthers have lost three in a row after a four-game winning streak. Pavel Bure scored his league-leading 41st goal.

Ottawa 3, Vancouver 0--Patrick Lalime stopped 25 shots for his second shutout in three games to lead the Senators at Ottawa. Lalime got his 12th career shutout and sixth of the season. Ottawa has won six of seven.

Edmonton 3, Calgary 1--The Flames got only one of 34 shots past Tommy Salo and gave up two power-play goals as their playoff hopes took a hit with a loss at Calgary, Canada.

The Flames dropped 10 points behind Edmonton for the final Western Conference playoff spot with 21 games left. The Oilers maintained a four-point lead over the Kings.

Around the League

New Jersey Devil left wing Sergei Brylin underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove cartilage from his right knee and might return to the lineup in about a week. Brylin was injured Thursday when he got tangled up with Buffalo Sabre goaltender Dominik Hasek. . . . The Dallas Stars sent Roman Lyashenko to Utah of the International Hockey League.