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Sunrise, Fla. • The Washington Capitals resorted to a familiar formula against the Florida Panthers — find Alex Ovechkin and let him do the rest.
Ovechkin recorded his 12th career hat trick and added an assist, and the surging Capitals survived a late rally by the Panthers for a 4-3 victory on Saturday night.
Ovechkin scored twice from in close on the power play, and weaved through traffic for his other goal, as the Capitals (19-17-2) improved to 8-2-1 in their last 11 games in completing a four-game season sweep of the Panthers.
The Southeast Division-leading Capitals, who scored at least five goals against Florida in their previous three games, struck quickly with a pair of goals from Mike Ribeiro and Ovechkin within 1:41 early in the second period.
Braden Holtby made 27 saves in posting his fifth career victory over the Panthers (12-20-6) without a loss.
Holtby continues to be impressed with Ovechkin, who has 13 goals in his last 10 games.
"He brings us energy. He's doing what we expect him to do," Holtby said. "That's the player we expect out of him and he's doing a great job of it."
Ovechkin, who has 23 goals this season, started his night by beating Jacob Markstrom from the stick side following a 5-minute boarding penalty to Panthers' defenseman Erik Gudbranson in the first period. Ovechkin tipped in a cross-ice pass from Ribeiro just over a minute following the major.
"The guys did a great job to find me. I just had to put it in the net," Ovechkin said. EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic Division
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Pittsburgh 39 29 10 0 58 127 95
Rangers 38 19 15 4 42 93 90
Islanders 39 19 16 4 42 113 119
New Jersey 38 15 14 9 39 90 103
Philadelphia 38 17 18 3 37 106 118
Northeast Division
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Montreal 38 25 8 5 55 120 91
Boston 37 24 9 4 52 102 79
Toronto 38 21 13 4 46 117 106
Ottawa 37 19 12 6 44 93 83
Buffalo 38 15 17 6 36 102 116
Southeast Division
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Wash. 38 19 17 2 40 113 108
Winnipeg 40 19 19 2 40 98 120
Carolina 37 16 19 2 34 97 115
Tampa Bay 37 16 19 2 34 119 110
Florida 38 12 20 6 30 94 131
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Central Division
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Chicago 37 28 5 4 60 123 80
Detroit 38 19 14 5 43 99 100
St. Louis 36 20 14 2 42 105 98
Columbus 38 16 15 7 39 91 101
Nashville 39 15 16 8 38 93 104
Northwest Division
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Vancouver 38 21 11 6 48 103 95
Minnesota 37 21 14 2 44 100 97
Edmonton 38 16 15 7 39 100 106
Calgary 37 13 20 4 30 99 133
Colorado 38 12 21 5 29 89 121
Pacific Division
GP W L OT Pts GF GA
Anaheim 38 25 8 5 55 117 95
L.A. 38 22 13 3 47 111 92
San Jose 37 20 11 6 46 94 89
Phoenix 38 17 15 6 40 105 104
Dallas 37 17 17 3 37 99 113
NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss.
Saturday's games
Winnipeg 4, Philadelphia 1
Chicago 1, Nashville 0
Los Angeles 4, Edmonton 1
Montreal 2, Boston 1
Toronto 2, New Jersey 1
N.Y. Islanders 4, Tampa Bay 2
N.Y. Rangers 4, Carolina 1
Washington 4, Florida 3
Phoenix 4, Colorado 0
Vancouver 5, Calgary 2
Sunday's games
St. Louis at Detroit, 10:30 a.m.
Dallas at San Jose, 2 p.m.
Ottawa at Florida, 4 p.m.
Minnesota at Columbus, 4 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Washington, 5 p.m.
Nashville at Chicago, 5 p.m.
New Jersey at Buffalo, 5:30 p.m.
Los Angeles at Anaheim, 7 p.m.