Unbeaten Streak at 7 for Lightning

The undefeated Tampa Bay Lightning cleared another hurdle. It got a rare victory over the Washington Capitals.

Chris Dingman and Dave Andreychuk scored 51 seconds apart in the first period, and the Lightning remained the NHL’s only unbeaten team with a 3-2 victory Friday night over the Capitals at Tampa, Fla.

“It really doesn’t mean anything because there’s 82 games in the season,” Lightning center Vincent Lecavalier said. “Obviously it’s nice. I’ve never had that in my career. We’ve got to keep on going, keep on building and get our confidence going even more.”

Nikolai Khabibulin faced 27 shots for the Lightning, which tied a franchise record with a seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2). The goalie stopped Jaromir Jagr on a first-period breakaway.

“He had the puck and I tried to match his speed,” Khabibulin said. “He shot it, and it hit my pad.”

The Lightning ended a nine-game winless streak (0-8-1) -- dating to a 5-2 win on Nov. 5, 2000 -- against Washington and won for only the second time in the last 16 meetings (2-13-1).

Dingman put the Lightning up, 1-0, at 10:29 of the first period. It was his first goal in 65 games, dating back to Jan. 21.

Andreychuk’s goal during a five-on-three power play made it 2-0 at 11:20. Andreychuk has 248 power-play goals, one short of tying Phil Esposito’s NHL record.

Fredrik Modin gave Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead only 1:21 into the second period.

Detroit 7, Pittsburgh 3 -- Sergei Fedorov had a hat trick and Luc Robitaille scored two goals at Detroit as the Red Wings ended the Penguins’ unbeaten streak at five.

The Stanley Cup champions have not lost in four games since dropping their home opener.

Mario Lemieux, in his first game in Joe Louis Arena since Feb. 27, 1997, had two assists and now has an NHL-leading 16 points.

Fedorov earned his fifth career hat trick -- all coming in the second period.

“He was awesome,” Lemieux said of Fedorov. “The way he skates is dominating, especially in the neutral zone. You can’t defend that. He took over the game.”

New Jersey 2, Buffalo 1 -- Sergei Brylin scored the game winner early in the third period, and Martin Brodeur made 23 saves for his league-leading fifth victory as the Devils won at Buffalo, N.Y.

Brodeur was at his best as the Sabres buzzed around the New Jersey zone for much of the third period, including two key saves on Jochen Hecht during a power play.

Buffalo had just returned to full strength when Brylin put the Devils ahead to stay only one minute into the final period.

With Brodeur pulled for an extra attacker on a delayed Buffalo penalty, New Jersey opened the scoring at 17:07. Ken Daneyko scored his first goal in 256 games, ending the longest drought in NHL history. He hadn’t scored since February 1999.

San Jose 5, Columbus 4 -- Vincent Damphousse had two goals -- including the game-winner with 5:45 left -- as the Sharks scored four times in the final period to beat the Blue Jackets at Columbus, Ohio.

San Jose, which also got two goals from Teemu Selanne, rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period to win its second straight game after winning only once in its first five.

Columbus’ Ray Whitney scored his first two goals of the season and added an assist.