Devils beat Sharks to sweep top teams in both conferences

Devils beat Sharks to sweep top teams in both conferences • NEW JERSEY 6, SAN JOSE 5: David Clarkson scored his second goal of the game on a power play with 3:32 to play and the red-hot Devils completed a sweep of the top teams in the Eastern and Western conferences with a wild home victory over the Sharks on Sunday. Brian Gionta, Brian Rolston, Patrik Elias and Jamie Langenbrunner also scored. This latest win came just two days after blanking the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins 1-0. Against the Sharks, New Jersey did it with goals. Joe Pavelski, Devin Setoguchi, Jonathan Cheechoo, Patrick Marleau and Rob Blake tallied for San Jose.

• WASHINGTON 4, FLORIDA 2: Mike Green's NHL-record goals streak for defensemen ended at eight games, but Alexander Ovechkin scored three times to give the visiting Capitals a victory over the Panthers. Ovechkin's second goal broke a tie with 2:31 left, and he completed the hat trick with an empty-netter for his 41st goal.

• ATLANTA 8, ANAHEIM 4: Ilya Kovalchuk scored three goals in 6:51 span of the second period and also had an assist for visiting Atlanta. Rich Peverley, Bryan Little, Colby Armstrong, Colin Stuart and Niclas Havelid also scored, and Kari Lehtonen made 31 saves.

• COLORADO 6, DETROIT 5: Jordan Leopold scored in the fifth round of a shootout to give the Avalanche a road victory over the Red Wings. Wojtek Wolski also scored.

• CAROLINA 3, BUFFALO 0: Cam Ward made 36 saves for his third shutout in 10 starts, and Eric Staal had a goal and two assists in the visiting Hurricanes' victory over the Sabres. Chad LaRose and Sergei Samsonov also scored to help the Hurricanes bounce back from a 5-1 home loss to Columbus on Saturday night.

• VANCOUVER 4, MONTREAL 2: Identical twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin each had a goal and an assist, and the Canucks beat the visiting Canadiens. Alex Edler and Ryan Kesler also scored, and Alex Burrows added two assists to help Vancouver jump from ninth to fifth in the tightly packed Western Conference playoff race.

• PHILADELPHIA 5, N.Y. RANGERS 2: Mike Richards sparked a four-goal second period, and Claude Giroux had three points in the visiting Flyers' rout of the Rangers. With the Flyers ahead 1-0 in the second and down two men, Richards took a pass from Braydon Coburn, split New York's Chris Drury and Michal Rozsival at the blue line, and scored on Henrik Lundqvist at 1:18. He became the first NHL player to score three 3-on-5 goals.

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