Edmonton Oilers centre Anton Lander (51) attempts to poke away the puck from Detroit Red Wings centre Riley Sheahan (15) during the third period of their game at Joe Louis Arena.
NEW YORK: In a game both teams desperately needed to win to remain in the play-off hunt, Washington defenceman Mike Green provided the difference, snapping a long wrist shot past Vancouver Canucks rookie goalie Eddie Lack midway through the third period to give the Capitals a 4-3 win.
Green’s goal, his ninth of the season, came with 10:19 gone in the third period.
Capitals goaltender Jaroslav Halak was forced to make several big saves down the stretch to preserve the one-goal victory.
Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson and Joel Ward also scored for the Capitals.
Jordan Schoeder, Shawn Matthias and Nicklas Jensen scored for the Canucks.
The Capitals (31-27-10, 72 points) climbed to within one point of the Philadelphia Flyers, who hold the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Canucks (30-29-10, 70 points) have lost 13 of their last 16 games (3-12-1) and remain four points behind the Dallas Stars for the last wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Matt Nieto and Jason Demers scored goals during a 79-second span in the first period to give the San Jose Sharks a lead they would not relinquish in a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders.
With their fifth straight win, the red-hot Sharks (44-17-7) are within two points of idle St. Louis for the top overall seed in the Western Conference.
Joe Thornton and Marty Havlat also scored for San Jose, who have won 10 of their last 13.
Anders Lee, Brock Nelson and Frans Nielsen scored for the Islanders (25-34-9), who have lost seven of their last 10.
The Florida Panthers, playing the role of playoff spoilers, rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the New Jersey Devils 5-3.
Scottie Upshall scored the winning goal with 10:00 left in the third period as the Panthers came back in the final 25 minutes after trailing 3-1. The Panthers, who are way out of the playoff race with just 57 points, snapped a three-game losing streak.
New Jersey have 71 points with 15 games left in the regular season.
Tomas Tatar scored the only goal of the shoot-out to give the Detroit Red Wings a 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard stopped Edmonton’s Jordan Eberle, David Perron and Taylor Hall in the shoot-out.
Riley Sheahan scored for Detroit (30-23-13) and Ryan Smith scored for Edmonton (23-36-9).
REUTERS
