LOS ANGELES - Jeff Carter scored with 2:10 left in overtime and the Los Angeles Kings blew a three-goal lead in the third period before rallying for a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.

Vincent Lecavalier, Jake Muzzin and Milan Lucic scored in a dominant first period for the Kings, who reclaimed the Pacific Division lead from Anaheim with their seventh victory in nine games.

Related: VIDEOS: Kings honor Justin Williams, Mike Richards in L.A. returns

T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom and Dmitry Orlov scored in the third for the NHL-leading Capitals, who awoke from two somnolent periods for a furious finish. Braden Holtby stopped 26 shots in Washington's second loss in six games.

After both teams had golden overtime chances, Carter scored on an exceptional cross-ice pass from Lucic to end a thriller between two Stanley Cup contenders.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves as the NHL's best defensive team held on late to beat the Capitals, who lead the league in scoring.

The Kings' victory and the Ducks' 3-0 loss at Colorado pushed Los Angeles one point ahead of Anaheim atop the Pacific. The Kings led the division for two months before the Ducks overtook them with a 3-2 win in Los Angeles last weekend.

Kings fans gave a warm homecoming to Capitals forwards Justin Williams and Mike Richards, who played key roles on Los Angeles' Stanley Cup championship teams in 2012 and 2014.

Staples Center gave separate video tributes to Williams and Richards on the scoreboard during the first period. Richards warmly acknowledged the cheers after his stormy departure from the Kings, including a demotion to the AHL before the club reached a settlement on his hefty contract. The dispute followed Richards' arrested at a Canadian border crossing in June, when he was charged with possession of a controlled substance. The charge was stayed in February.

Williams, the beloved forward who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL's postseason MVP in 2014, left as a free agent last summer. The veteran known as ''Mr. Game 7'' acknowledged the ovation and video tribute with a curt wave of his hand.

After Lecavalier got credit for a goal that grazed his skate, Muzzin and Lucic scored 1:21 apart against the Capitals, who scarcely showed life for the first two periods.

But Oshie scored his 20th goal during a scramble early in the third, and Backstrom scored with 8:58 to play after a dominant shift by his line with Alex Ovechkin.

Orlov tied it by stickhandling through the Kings' entire defense and beating Quick with an artful backhand for the defenseman's eighth goal. Williams got the first assist for the Caps, who outshot Los Angeles 18-6 in the third.

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DENVER - Semyon Varlamov stopped 37 shots, Nathan MacKinnon got his 21st goal and the Colorado Avalanche beat Anaheim 3-0 Wednesday night to end the Ducks' 14-game point streak.

Andreas Martinsen and Shawn Matthias also scored to help the Avalanche earn a critical win. They're in a heated race with Minnesota for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

The Ducks have now dropped two straight for the first time since December and ended a six-game road winning streak.

Anaheim goaltender John Gibson had a rare off night. He entered tied for the league-lead with a 2.04 goals-against average, but stopped just 23 of 26 shots.

Colorado has outscored Anaheim 6-0 in two meetings this season.

Things got a little chippy in the waning seconds when Colorado defenseman Francois Beauchemin and Anaheim forward Jamie McGinn exchanged shoves. Beauchemin played parts of nine seasons with Anaheim while McGinn used to play for Colorado.

Martinsen returned to the lineup after not playing the last four games. He took a pass from Matt Duchene and beat Gibson with a backhanded shot. It was Martinsen's first goal since Dec. 12.

With 28.3 seconds remaining in the second period, Matthias knocked in a pass from Carl Soderberg. Matthias has three goals since being acquired from Toronto on Feb. 21.

Matthias nearly had another goal early in the third period when he took a long pass at the blue line on a breakaway and beat Gibson with a shot. The officials ruled Matthias was offside, but replays seemed to indicate his skate might have been on the blue line when he entered the zone.

No matter, the three-goal cushion was more than enough for Varlamov. One of his best of the night was in the second period when he redirected a tip by David Perron just wide of the goal.

It was Varlamov's second solid start after a recent rash of subpar performances led to a few starts for backup Calvin Pickard. Hall of Fame goaltender turned coach Patrick Roy said he never lost confidence in Varlamov but needed him to be more consistent.

Related: Avalanche's Varlamov steps up after being called out by Roy

Colorado scored midway through the first when Erik Johnson lofted the puck from blue line to blue line, where a speeding MacKinnon quickly settled it onto his stick with defenseman Josh Manson draped on him. MacKinnon was able to lift the puck over Gibson's glove for his 21st goal of the season.

Related: VIDEO: MacKinnon capitalizes on Johnson's precise lob pass

Before MacKinnon's goal, Gibson made two sensational saves - one with his stomach to stop MacKinnon's liner and another by using his right pad on a shot from Matt Duchene.

Strong goaltending is nothing new for the Ducks, who are the only team with both of their net-minders ranked in the top-10 this season in goals-against average. Frederik Andersen is ninth (2.21 GAA).

NOTES: Anaheim wraps up a two-game trip Friday in St. Louis. ... Avalanche D Chris Bigras (head) missed a second straight game. ... F Jack Skille was a scratch. ... Colorado killed off three Anaheim power-play opportunities. The Avalanche have now killed off 22 straight penalties.

-with files from theScore

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NEW YORK - Anders Lee scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period, Jaroslav Halak stopped 31 shots before leaving late in the third period and got his 200th career victory and the surging New York Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 Tuesday night.

Halak left the game with 4:22 left with a possible injury. Thomas Greiss replaced him and stopped all three shots he faced. Halak, in his second season with the Islanders, improved to 200-115-37 in his career.

John Tavares scored in the first period for the Islanders, who improved to 11-2-1 in their last 14 games in their first time back at Barclays Center since Feb. 18. New York was coming off a 6-1-0 trip that ended with 6-4 win against the crosstown-rival Rangers on Sunday.

Kris Letang had the Penguins' goal and Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 25 saves.

The Penguins, holding the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, had won four of their last six but fell five points behind the Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

Just 20 seconds after the Penguins' Matt Cullen was sent off for cross-checking, the Islanders got their second power-play goal of the game. Frans Nielsen sent the puck from behind the goal line to Nick Leddy, and the defenseman fired a shot through traffic that Lee tipped from in front for his 12th of the season at 8:55.

The Islanders won their fourth straight overall, improved to 5-0-1 in their last six at home and remained three points behind the Rangers for second place in the Metropolitan.

The Islanders, on their second power play of the game early in the third period, had a chance about 12 seconds into that man-advantage, but Fleury stopped Tavares' snap shot from the left side.

The Penguins outshot the Islanders 12-8 in the first and 11-9 in a fast-paced, scoreless second period.

Pittsburgh had a power play in the second when Leddy was whistled for cross-checking Patric Hornqvist, but Halak stopped all three shots during the Penguins' advantage - including slap shots by Letang and Phil Kessel.

Fleury made a nice save on Casey Cizikas from in close late in the middle period.

Halak had two nice pad stops early in the game, first on Kessel in the opening minute and then on Evgeni Malkin about 3 1/2 minutes in.

Tavares got the Islanders on the scoreboard first with his 24th of the season. Just 9 seconds after Hornqvist was sent off for hooking Nikolay Kulemin, Tavares took a pass from Leddy and fired a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle past Fleury 8:04 into the game. It was Tavares' 198th career goal and first after a five-game drought.

The teams were skating 4-on-4 after Malkin and the Islanders' Travis Hamonic were both whistled for roughing with about 7 1/2 minutes left in the first period when they dropped gloves and briefly fought.

The Penguins took advantage of the open ice, as Letang took a pass from Sidney Crosby near the blue line, skated through the right faceoff circle and fired the puck into the top right corner of the goal past Halak's glove with 6:47 to go for his 12th of the season. Crosby got his 38th assist and 66th point, both team highs.

NOTES: Tavares has nine goals and 21 points in his last 16 games. ... The Islanders were without Calvin de Haan for the second straight game due to a lower-body injury. ... New York F Brock Nelson played in his 199th consecutive game and F Anders Lee his 140th straight. ... Shane Prince, acquired from Ottawa at the trading deadline, and rookie Ryan Pulock made their home debuts for the Islanders. ... The Penguins won the teams' first meeting, 5-2 at home on Jan. 2. The teams have two more games remaining, March 15 at Pittsburgh and April 2 back here. ... Crosby has three goals and seven assists in his last six games. ... The Penguins were playing the second of nine straight against division foes, after opening the stretch with a 6-1 win at New Jersey on Sunday.

- With files from theScore

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PHILADELPHIA - Shayne Gostisbehere scored twice, leading the Philadelphia Flyers past Tampa Bay 4-2 on Monday night to snap the Lightning's franchise-best nine-game winning streak.

Gostisbehere, Brayden Schenn, and Wayne Simmonds each scored third period goals for the Flyers.

The Flyers have 73 points and moved within two of idle Detroit for the final wild-card playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. The Flyers have earned 10 of 12 possible points to key their surge in the standings.

There are 17 games left for the Flyers and two of them are against Detroit.

Ondrej Palat and Vladislav Namestnikov scored for Tampa Bay in its first loss since Feb. 16 against San Jose. The Lightning had won six straight on the road.

Gostisbehere, the sensational rookie defenseman, had his first two-goal game for the Flyers, and his go-ahead goal early in the third ended an 0 for 15 slump for the Flyers on the power play. His 14 goals are a team record for a rookie defenseman.

Andrei Vasilevskiy was sensational, stopping shots from all angles all while carrying a heavy workload. He stopped 21 of a whopping 22 shots in the second period and kept Tampa Bay in the game. He finished with 36 saves.

His lone mistake came when Gostisbehere squeezed in his 13th goal with 3:09 left in the period. Philadelphia's first goal came on its 30th shot.

- With files from theScore

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