NHL-Highlights of Tuesday's NHL games

Feb 2 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Tuesday's National Hockey League games. - - - Panthers 5, Capitals 2 Florida winger Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice and back up goaltender Al Montoya registered 36 saves as the Panthers opened up the second half of the season with an impressive 5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals. Huberdeau's second goal of the night, a ringing shot off the near post, was his 10th of the season and it sent some in the Verizon Center crowd heading for the exits with the Capitals down 4-0. The 22-year-old, who added a first-period assist, has 16 points in his past 15 games. - - - Flyers 4, Canadiens 2 Wayne Simmonds scored a pair of goals and the Philadelphia Flyers got back to winning ways on home ice with a 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at Wells Fargo Center. Simmonds netted his second goal with 8:04 remaining in regulation to break a 2-2 tie and help the Flyers (22-18-8) snap a three-game home losing skid. Philadelphia are 10-1-1 when Simmonds scores. - - - Devils 3, Rangers 2 Defenseman David Schlemko scored a power-play goal with 8:46 remaining in the third period to give the New Jersey Devils a come-from-behind 3-2 victory against the New York Rangers at Prudential Center. Schlemko's goal came less than two minutes after a turnover that led to a shorthanded breakaway for Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who missed the net on the golden opportunity. - - - Islanders 5, Wild 3 Brock Nelson scored the tie-breaking goal in the final minute of the second period and Frans Nielsen and John Tavares scored a little more than two minutes apart early in the third as the New York Islanders beat the Minnesota Wild 5-3. Mikhail Grabovski and Anders Lee also scored for the Islanders (26-16-6), who won for the fourth time in six games. - - Penguins 6, Senators 5 Sidney Crosby scored three consecutive goals to extend his recent scoring surge and rally the Pittsburgh Penguins to their fourth consecutive victory, 6-5 over the slumping Senators. Crosby's natural hat-trick was the ninth three-goal game of his career, gave him at least one goal in eight consecutive games at Consol Energy Center and assured him of his ninth 20-goal season in his 11 NHL seasons. - - - Maple Leafs 4, Bruins 3 (overtime) The Toronto Maple Leafs, down by two goals in the third period, forced overtime and got a power play goal from Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau to shock the Boston Bruins 4-3. Boston center David Krejci, who set up one goal and scored another 26 seconds apart early in the third period, was off for holding when Parenteau beat Tuukka Rask with a rebound backhander to end Toronto's four-game losing streak. - - - Blues 1, Predators 0 Troy Brouwer's deflection gave the St. Louis Blues their first 1-0 win of the season. Scoring his 10th goal, Brouwer got his stick on a one-timer from defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, beating Predators goalie Pekka Rinne at 18:55 of the third period and giving St. Louis its fourth win of the season over Nashville. The Blues (29-16-8) outshot the Predators 12-5 in the final period. - - - Blackhawks 2, Avalanche 1 Artemi Panarin and Richard Panik scored first-period goals as the shorthanded Chicago Blackhawks beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1. Goaltender Corey Crawford had 23 saves for Chicago, who played without center Jonathan Toews. The Blackhawks captain had to sit out Tuesday's game because he skipped Sunday's All-Star Game in Nashville due to illness. - - - Oilers 5, Blue Jackets 1 In his return from a three-month absence because of injury, rookie Connor McDavid delivered a goal-of-the-year candidate and added two assists in leading the Edmonton Oilers to a 5-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Leon Draisaitl, Eric Gryba, Benoit Pouliot and Jordan Eberle added goals as the Oilers prevailed in a battle between the last-place teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences. - - - Kings 6, Coyotes 2 It's hard to imagine Dustin Brown's popularity in Arizona falling any lower. The Los Angeles Kings captain is already the most reviled hockey player in the Valley due to a colorful history with the Arizona Coyotes. Brown somehow added to the venom when he scored a pair of goals in the Kings' 6-2 win over the Coyotes on Tuesday at Gila River Arena. Neither goal was impressive but both helped L.A. erase a second-period deficit and post its first regulation win over the Coyotes this season. - - - Ducks 3, Sharks 2 Rickard Rakell, Hampus Lindholm and Ryan Garbutt scored to give the Anaheim Ducks a 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks at the Honda Center. Goalie Frederik Andersen stopped 30 shots for the Ducks (23-18-7), who earned their fourth successive victory and moved into a tie with the Arizona Coyotes for third place, the Pacific Division's final automatic playoff spot. (Editing by Peter Rutherford)