Oates’ Late Overtime Goal Gives Capitals a 3-2 Victory

Adam Oates gambled in overtime and got a break, literally.

Oates scored on a breakaway with 22.6 seconds to play in the five-minute extra period Friday night and the Washington Capitals ended the New Jersey Devils’ NHL-best nine-game unbeaten streak with a 3-2 victory at East Rutherford, N.J.

Oates’ winner was set up when Devil defenseman Sheldon Souray broke his stick while trying to keep the puck in the Capitals’ zone, allowing Oates to block his weak pass and break in alone on Devil goaltender Chris Terreri.

Oates had put himself in position to make the play by making a quick move to intercept a pass toward the point by Devil defenseman Scott Niedermayer.

“As soon as I saw him go to his backhand, I took off hoping it would bounce,” Oates said. “Four on four you gamble a little bit and I just took off.”

The puck bounced a little, but Souray had a bigger problem with his stick.

“It came bouncing out to the point and I tried to stay strong on my stick and my stick breaks,” Souray said. “It’s just bad luck.”

Oates skated patiently toward Terreri and flipped the puck over the goaltender’s left shoulder for his seventh goal.

Toronto 3, Edmonton 2--Mats Sundin scored at 2:59 of overtime as the Maple Leafs rallied from two goals down at Edmonton.

Sundin snapped a shot past goaltender Tommy Salo from the slot on the only shot in overtime.

Atlanta 1, Philadelphia 0--Norm Maracle, returning from a banishment to the bench, posted his first NHL shutout and Dean Sylvester scored the only goal early in the third period at Atlanta as the Thrashers ended the Flyers’ six-game winning streak.

Maracle stopped 25 shots for the first shutout of his 35-game NHL career.

Florida 5, Carolina 1--Pavel Bure and Scott Mellanby scored power-play goals at Sunrise, Fla., to help the Panthers to their fifth victory in six games.

The first-place Panthers ended a seven-game losing streak against Carolina and opened a 14-point lead over the second-place Hurricanes in the Southeast Division.

Montreal 2, Buffalo 1--Rookies Jason Ward and Francis Bouillon scored and Jose Theodore made 14 saves at Buffalo, N.Y.

Around the League

The Canadian government declined to comment on a newspaper report that said it was about to announce a $20-million annual subsidy package to help the country’s six NHL teams. The Ottawa Sun said Industry Minister John Manley--who has been charged with finding a way of helping Canada’s NHL teams--would announce the aid next week. . . . Goalie Dan Cloutier of the Tampa Bay Lightning was suspended by the NHL for four games for kicking New York Islander forward Tim Connolly on Thursday night. . . . Defenseman Alexei Gusarov of the Colorado Avalanche was suspended two games by the NHL for cross-checking Matthew Barnaby of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. . . . Forward Dan Hinote was recalled by the Avalanche from the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears. . . . Two days after losing All-Star defenseman Kimmo Timonen, the Nashville Predators learned that center David Legwand will be sidelined for three to six weeks because of a broken left foot. . . . The New Jersey Devils acquired a second- and third-round pick in this year’s draft from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for right wing Vadim Sharifijanov and a third-round pick. . . . The San Jose Sharks recalled defenseman Scott Hannan from the Kentucky Thoroughblades of the AHL.