Ovechkin’s 2nd straight hat-trick leads Caps to win

RALEIGH: Jakub Vrana scored in the sixth round of a shootout to give the Washington Capitals a 6-5 victory against the host Carolina Hurricanes in a thriller in which Washington’s Alex Ovechkin posted a hat trick for the second straight game Friday night in Raleigh, Northern Carolina.

The Capitals overcame a threegoal hole, with Ovechkin breaking a 4-4 tie with 10:11 to play in regulation on a power-play goal. Ovechkin scored his 26th, 27th and 28th goals of the season, notching a goal in each period.

In the shootout, Carolina’s Dougie Hamilton and Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom converted in the fourth round before Vrana ended it.

In regulation, Tom Wilson and Travis Boyd also scored for Washington, which has won four games in a row. John Carlson and Nic Dowd each registered three assists for the Capitals. Sebastian Aho scored twice for the Hurricanes and finished with a four-point outing, but he was not used in the shootout.

Elsewhere, in New York, Derek Stepan scored with 32 seconds remaining in overtime as Arizona stormed back from a three-goal deficit to win 4-3 and end a nine-game road losing streak to New York.

Stepan gave Arizona its first win over the Rangers in New York since Dec. 2007 when he finished off an odd-man rush and lifted a wrist shot from the right circle over former teammate Henrik Lundqvist’s right pad while using New York defenseman Brady Skjei as a screen.

Stepan’s dramatic tally also ended Arizona’s four-game losing streak and a nine-game overall skid to the Rangers since Oct. 3, 2013. It was Arizona’s first overtime win against the Rangers since Nov. 2, 1986 and the franchise’s first overtime win at Madison Square Garden.

Meanwhile, Nico Hischier scored 41 seconds into overtime as host New Jersey twice rallied from three-goal deficits to defeat Vegas 5-4.

Hischier took a pass from Marcus Johansson and then skated in from the right side of the goal and slid a shot inside the left post past Marcandre Fleury to give New Jersey its first overtime win of the season in six tries.