NHL Last Night: Alex Tops Sidney

Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals thumped Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 5-2 victory Sunday that included a dismissive goodbye wave from one superstar to the other.

Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 43rd goal, and Washington chased goalie Marc-Andre Fleury in the second period in a blowout that should settle any doubt the tide has turned in a series that used to be one-sided in favor of the Penguins.

Alexander Semin, Sergei Fedorov, Shaone Morrisonn and Brooks Laich also scored for Washington. Maxime Talbot and Sergei Gonchar scored for Pittsburgh. The Penguins have lost six of their last seven on the road. They're 2-1-1 since Dan Bylsma became the interim coach after Michel Therrien's firing.

Maple Leafs 3, Rangers 2, OT
At New York, Niklas Hagman scored on a power play 3 minutes into overtime for Toronto, tipping Pavel Kubina's shot past New York's Henrik Lundqvist.

Ian White and John Mitchell added goals, Vesa Toskala made 39 saves, and Kubina and Lee Stempniak each had three assists.

Michal Rozsival scored with 39.1 seconds left in regulation to tie it for New York, and Scott Gomez added a goal for the Rangers.

The Rangers honored Hall of Famers Harry Howell and Andy Bathgate before the game, retiring Howell's No. 3 and Bathgate's No. 9. Bathgate will share his No. 9 in the rafters with Adam Graves, a member of the 1994 Stanley Cup championship team whose version of No. 9 was retired this month.

Lightning 4, Bruins 3
At Tampa, Florida, Vaclav Prospal beat Manny Fernandez on a power play with 1:33 left to lift Tampa Bay past Eastern Conference-leading Boston.

Jeff Halpern, Adam Hall and Mark Recchi also scored for Tampa Bay, and Karri Ramo made 40 saves. Phil Kessel, Andrew Ference and Zdeno Chara scored for Boston, coming off a 2-0 loss at Florida on Saturday night.

Wild 2, Blackhawks 1
At Chicago, Josh Harding made 44 saves for Minnesota, and Peter Olvecky snapped a tie with Chicago early in the third period with his first NHL goal.

Dan Fritsche also scored for Minnesota, and the Wild's NHL-leading penalty kill snuffed all eight Chicago advantages. Jonathan Toews scored for Chicago. The loss ended the Blackhawks' winning streak at four.

Hurricanes 5, Avalanche 2
At Raleigh, North Carolina, Matt Cullen had his first career hat trick, and Carolina downed Colorado for its third straight win to move within a point of eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

Joni Pitkanen and Ryan Bayda also scored for Carolina.

Darcy Tucker and Wojtek Wolski scored for Colorado.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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