Kunitz leads way for Pens

WASHINGTON — Chris Kunitz scored a hat trick in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Super Bowl Sunday visit to the nation’s capital, leading a 6-3 win over the Washington Capitals that reflected both teams’ fortunes so far in the lockout-shortened season.

Kris Letang, Paul Martin and Matt Cooke also scored, Sidney Crosby had three assists, and Tomas Vokoun made 21 saves against his former team for the Penguins (6-3), who have won three straight and four of five to lead the Atlantic Division.

Mike Green, Carlson and Mike Ribeiro scored for the Capitals — and Carlson’s goal was an accident that took a weird carom off a stanchion along the glass.

Two-time league MVP Alex Ovechkin, who said before the game that he was somewhat embarrassed to have only three points on the season, contributed a secondary assist on a third-period power-play goal with Washington (2-6-1) trailing by three.

Panthers 4, Sabres 3

Peter Mueller, George Parros and Shawn Matthias also scored for the Panthers, who won their first road game of the season and snapped a seven-game road winless drought (0-5-2) dating to last season. Florida (3-5) rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win two straight since enduring a five-game skid.

Devils 2, Islanders 0

Steve Bernier scored for New Jersey in the third period and David Clarkson added an empty-netter to help the Devils snap a four-game winless streak).

Canadiens 2, Senators 1

The Canadiens (6-2-0) have won five straight at home after dropping their home opener to Toronto on Jan. 19.

Jakob Silfverberg scored for Ottawa (5-3-1), which was coming off a 1-0 loss at Carolina on Friday night.