The New Jersey Devils scored two early goals to set up a ninth straight victory, Vitaly Vishnevski and Dainius Zubrus striking in the first period of a 3-2 home win over the Washington Capitals.

Netminder Martin Brodeur made 22 saves to preserve the victory, which was sealed when Travis Zajac added the third goal in the third period after Alexander Semin had brought the Capitals within 2-1.

Washington's Brooks Laich scored the final goal of the contest with 1:17 remaining.

"We found a way to win," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "We played a team here that hadn't played in six days. Give our guys credit for fighting through and finding a way to win."

Brodeur stopped five shots in the first period and nine in the second before losing his shutout attempt in the third period. The victory was his ninth consecutive. He owns the franchise record with 12 straight in 1997.

Capitals netminder Olaf Kolzig made 19 saves.

A Henrik Zetterberg hat-trick led the Detroit Red Wings to their fifth straight win, a 5-0 shutout of the Minnesota Wild . Zetterberg had goals in each period, getting a short-handed goal in the second period. Dominik Hasek stopped 19 shots for the victory.

Slava Kozlov delivered a tie-breaking third-period goal to spark the Atlanta Thrashers to a 4-2 home win over the New York Rangers. The loss was the third straight for the Rangers, who got goals from Marcel Hossa and Chris Drury. Eric Boulton, Pascal Dupuis and Marian Hossa had Atlanta's other goals.

The Florida Panthers ended a three-game skid with a 3-0 home victory over the New York Islanders. Tomas Vokoun made 25 saves for the shutout win.

Antoine Vermette broke a 1-1 tie with a first-period goal and the Ottawa Senators went on to beat the Dallas Stars 4-2.

Reuters