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Alex Ovechkin made quite an impression against the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night.

The Capitals star scored had the game-winning goal and was also ejected in the third period of the Capitals' 2-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres. "You lose the most prolific scorer on the planet Earth, which is tough," said Washington defenceman Brian Pothier. "But you have to kill a five-minute penalty. As Ovie's skating off the ice, we're telling him, 'We've got this one for you.' He does so much for our team. Every night, he bails us out. We could sure do it for him."

Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves for his first regular-season shutout and Eric Fehr also scored for the Capitals, who had lost four of five.

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Varlamov, who had two shutouts in the playoffs last spring against the New York Rangers, wasn't severely tested until the third period, when Ovechkin's absence put Washington at a decided disadvantage.

"The defence played great, as well as our forwards," Varlamov said through a translator. "Toward the end of the game, we just held back. We needed to."

After watching Varlamov make rookie mistakes deep in previous games, Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau sensed a change in the 21-year-old goalie.

"Varly was solid," Boudreau said. "It was like he was saying, 'I'm not going to let this happen to me again in the third period."'

Elsewhere in the NHL it was: Toronto 4 Tampa Bay 3; New Jersey 3 Ottawa 1; Pittsburgh 3 Montreal 1; Calgary 2 Phoenix 1; Los Angeles 3 Edmonton 1; Atlanta 2 Detroit 0; N.Y. Rangers 2 Florida 1 (SO); Flyers 2 N.Y. Islanders 1; St. Louis 4 Dallas 3 (SO); Boston 2 Minnesota 1 (SO); Nashville 4 Colorado 3 (OT); Anaheim 3 Carolina 2; and Chicago 7 San Jose 2.

At Washington, D.C., Ovechkin drew a major for boarding and a game misconduct 3:38 into the third period when he ran Buffalo's Patrick Kaleta into the boards with his shoulder opposite the benches.

It was the second career ejection for Ovechkin, and both have come against Buffalo at Verizon Center. The other was Dec. 2, 2006, when he checked Daniel Briere from behind.

"I just go take a hit and (Kaleta) just fell into the boards. ... Max, it's got to be two minutes," Ovechkin said.

Neither Ovechkin nor Boudreau expects any further disciplinary action from the league. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff lamented his team's inability to seize momentum on the power play after the call on Ovechkin.

"We didn't get organized. We got set up once ... and made a couple of bad passes," Ruff said. "And the couple of bad passes led to no zone time."

Buffalo has lost four straight.

"As a team, we're having a tough time finding the back of the net," said Buffalo's Jason Pominville. "That's when you have to dig deeper and get those ugly goals and just outwork them around the crease. I just don't think we're doing a good enough job at it so far."

Ovechkin opened the scoring with his team-high 17th goal. Ovechkin made an end-to-end dash, using defenceman Tyler Myers as a screen and beating Ryan Miller on a wrister from the right circle 6:24 into the game. It was Ovechkin's third goal in five games after missing six games because of an upper-body strain.

After Ovechkin was banished, Washington got a break when the Sabres' Craig Rivet was whistled for tripping. The Capitals eventually killed off the power play to preserve the one-goal lead, and got through another Buffalo man advantage after Mike Green was penalized for delay of the game

Fehr gave them some breathing room with 6:22 left in regulation, banging home a centring pass from Brendan Morrison.

Maple Leafs 4 Lightning 3

At Tampa, Fla., Niklas Hagman had two goals, and Matt Stajan scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period for Toronto.

Nikolai Kulemin also scored to help the Maple Leafs improve to 5-11-7. Rookie defenceman Carl Gunnarsson had three assists in his sixth career NHL game.

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Devils 3 Senators 1

At Newark, N.J., Niclas Bergfors, Patrik Elias and Jamie Langenbrunner scored, and Martin Brodeur made 24 saves to help New Jersey end a three-game losing streak.

Milan Michalek scored for Ottawa, while Andy Greene had two assists for the Devils.

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Penguins 3 Canadiens 1

At Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby scored a goal and set up another with an no-look pass and the Penguins matched a franchise record for most victories in their first 25 games.

The Penguins are 17-8 with five victories in six games since losing four in a row and five of six. The only other seasons they won 17 of their first 25 were 1995-96 (17-5-3) and 1994-95 (17-6-2), when there were tie games.

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Flames 2 Coyotes 1

At Calgary, Nigel Dawes scored the go-ahead goal with 5:44 remaining, and Miikka Kiprusoff made 27 saves for the Flames.

Daymond Langkow opened the scoring for the Flames late in the second period.

Keith Yandle tied it on a power play midway through the third.

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Kings 3 Oilers 1

At Edmonton, Jonathan Quick made 22 saves, and Wayne Simmonds had a goal and an assist for Los Angeles.

Matt Greene and Alexander Frolov also scored for the Kings.

Ryan Potulny scored for the Oilers.

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Thrashers 2 Red Wings 0

At Detroit, Ondrej Pavelec made 40 saves for Atlanta for his second shutout of the season and his career, and Vyacheslav Kozlov had a goal and an assist.

Nik Antropov also scored to help Atlanta snap a three-game losing streak. Jimmy Howard stopped 23 shots for Detroit.

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Rangers 2 Panthers 1 (SO)

At Sunrise, Fla., P.A. Parenteau scored in a shootout for New York, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped all three Panther shooters.

Marian Gaborik scored a power-play goal in the second period for New York, his NHL-leading 19th goal of the season.

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Flyers 2 Islanders 1

At Uniondale, N.Y., Scott Hartnell scored from the high slot with 5:27 left, and Brian Boucher made 28 saves for Philadelphia.

Mike Richards added his 10th goal for Philadelphia.

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Blues 4 Stars 3 (SO)

At Dallas, Brad Boyes scored in the second round of the shootout, and Ty Conklin stopped Stephane Robidas in the third to give St. Louis the victory.

Dallas' Brenden Morrow tied it 3-3 with 25.4 seconds left in regulation and goalie Mart Turco off for a sixth attacker.

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Bruins 2 Wild 1 (SO)

At St. Paul, Minn., David Krejci scored the shootout winner, and rookie goalie Tuukka Rask stopped 28 shots to help Boston win its fourth straight game.

The Bruins closed out a perfect four-game trip by beating the Wild for just the second time in team history despite managing a season-low 16 shots.

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Predators 4 Avalanche 3 (OT)

At Denver, David Legwand scored at 3:07 of overtime to give Nashville its seventh straight victory and 11th in its last 13 games.

J.P. Dumont, Marcel Goc and Shea Weber also scored, and Pekka Rinne made 19 saves.

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Ducks 3 Hurricanes 2

At Anaheim, Calif., Petteri Nokelainen scored the go-ahead goal with 7:17 left as the Ducks sent the Hurricanes to a franchise-record 12th straight road loss to start the season.

Teemu Selanne had a goal and an assist to help the Ducks earn their 300th regular-season home victory.

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Blackhawks 7 Sharks 2

At San Jose, Calif., Marian Hossa scored twice in his first game for Chicago, and the Blackhawks beat the Sharks for their eighth straight victory.

Troy Brouwer, Patrick Sharp, Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Seabrook and John Madden also scored for the Blackhawks, playing the fourth game of a six-game trip. Cristobal Huet made 22 saves to help send San Jose its first home regulation loss of the season.

Dan Boyle and Joe Pavelski scored late goals for San Jose.