WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin took a stick to the face and put three pucks in the net for a hat trick to lead the Washington Capitals past the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Thursday night.

Ovechkin reached 31 goals this season with his 25th career hat trick. He has scored five in his past two games to reach 689 total, one back of Mario Lemieux for 10th on the NHL’s all-time list as he approaches 700.

Mike Gartner is the only other player to reach the 30-goal mark in each of his first 15 seasons.

Carl Hagelin and Jakub Vrana also scored for Washington, which has won two in a row since a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of the Devils five days earlier.

Ovechkin took an errant high stick from New Jersey’s Miles Wood that made him bleed from the mouth early in the game. Fired up, Ovechkin scored twice on Louis Domingue before the Devils’ starter exited after the first period with a lower-body injury. The Capitals put up three more on Cory Schneider, who was making his second relief appearance in as many games.

PANTHERS 4, KINGS 3: Brian Boyle scored the eventual winning goal and Florida held off a late surge to beat visiting Los Angeles.

Mike Matheson, Frank Vatrano and Evgenii Dadonov also scored for Florida. Jonathan Huberdeau, who set the franchise points record in last Monday’s 8-4 win over Toronto, recorded an assist on Dadonov’s goal.

Anze Kopitar, Adrian Kempe and Alex Iafallo scored goals for the Kings. Jack Campbell stopped 22 shots in his third start in four games. The Kings have lost 6 of 7.

CANADIENS 4, FLYERS 1: Ilya Kovalchuk scored twice and Carey Price recorded 40 saves as Montreal won at Philadelphia.

BLUE JACKETS 3, HURRICANES 2: Nick Foligno scored the tie-breaking goal with 1:41 left in the game, Elvis Merzlikins had 32 saves and Columbus  won at home.

RANGERS 3, ISLANDERS 2: Chris Kreider scored a power-play goal with 25 seconds left to give the Rangers a  win at Uniondale, New York.

With the Islanders’ Derick Brassard off for cross-checking earlier in the final minute, Kreider was at the right side of the net and knocked in the rebound of Mika Zibanejad’s shot to give the Rangers their fourth win in five games.

FLAMES 2, MAPLE LEAFS 1: Matthew Tkachuk scored the only goal of the shootout, leading Calgary to a win at Toronto.

Derek Ryan scored in regulation for Calgary, which got 35 saves from David Rittich through 65 minutes. Rittich stopped Jason Spezza, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner in the shootout.

William Nylander tied it in the third period for Toronto. Frederik Andersen, who had given up 14 goals over his last four starts, stopped 31 shots.

DUCKS 4, PREDATORS 2: Rickard Rakell had a goal and an assist, John Gibson made 33 saves and Anaheim won at Nashville, Tennessee.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, SENATORS 2: Mark Stone scored a goal and picked up an assist in his return to Ottawa, leading Vegas to a win in Peter DeBoer’s debut as the Golden Knights’ coach.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Knights, who fired Gerard Gallant on Wednesday. Peter Stastny, Chandler Stephenson and Ryan Reaves also scored for Vegas.