Eaves’ hat trick powers Stars

Patrick Eaves scored three of Dallas’ four goals in the first period, and the Stars avenged an ugly home loss to Chicago with a 4-2 victory.

Eaves’ second career hat trick helped Dallas to its fifth win in six games and moved the Stars within one of the Blackhawks for the most points in the Western Conference. Dallas’ lone loss during the strong stretch was a 5-1 rout for visiting Chicago on Saturday. In other games: • Alex Ovechkin scored three times in the second period for his 14th career hat trick as Washington beat Minnesota 4-3 at St. Paul, Minn. Ovechkin, who leads the league with 34 goals, has 13 in his past 13 games. Nicklas Backstrom had three assists and Jason Chimera added an empty-netter for the Capitals, who improved to a league-best 20-5-2 on the road. Braden Holtby made 33 saves for Washington, which won its fifth consecutive game and became the first team to reach 40 victories this season.

• R.J. Umberger snapped a 50-game scoreless drought, and Wayne Simmonds got his 20th goal of the season to help Philadelphia roll over visiting Buffalo 5-1.

• Jarome Iginla had two goals and an assist, and Blake Comeau had a goal and an assist as visiting Colorado defeated Ottawa 4-3 to end a fourgame losing streak. Iginla has 15 goals this season and has scored at least that many in 17 of his 20 NHL seasons. He has 604 career goals and 1,257 points.