WASHINGTON — As bad as the Washington Capitals have been at times, they will wake up Wednesday only four points out of first place.

The Southeast Division is the weakling of the NHL in this compressed season, and a two-game surge — including Tuesday night’s 3-0 win over the first-but-fading Carolina Hurricanes — has been enough to put the Capitals within decent range of recusing themselves from failure.

“We knew it was going to come around like this,” said goaltender Braden Holtby, who made 33 saves for his fifth career shutout a day after signing a two-year contract extension. “So we were just being patient, learning what we needed to do, learning from our mistakes, and you can just see we’re doing a good job.”

The Capitals saw a few things they’d never seen before during Tuesday’s game. Former teammate Alexander Semin was wearing another NHL uniform. Nicklas Backstrom fed John Erskine for a goal, the first time that’s happened in their six seasons together. And Adam Oates has his first back-to-back wins by more than one goal in his fledging head coaching career, even though he says his players are only about “60-70 per cent” toward getting his system down pat.

“It’s still not automatic all the time,” Oates said. “We have waves of it where it looks automatic, but then we shoot ourselves in the foot a little bit.”

They did more than enough against the Hurricanes, who have lost four of five and are 0-5 against division opponents. Cam Ward, under pressure for much of the game behind a thin blue line beset by injuries, kept it from turning into an ugly rout by making 37 saves.

“Fatigue kicks in,” Carolina coach Kirk Muller said. “Some guys are playing more minutes than they probably should, and it catches up.”

Making his debut on the visitor’s bench at the Verizon Center was Semin, who was booed and whooped derisively whenever he touched the puck. He ranks as the Capitals’ No. 5 all-time goal-scorer and was often touted as having more natural talent than two-time league MVP Alex Ovechkin, but his seven seasons in the nation’s capital were marred by criticisms about his work ethic, a complaint voiced again by Washington forward Troy Brouwer on Monday.

The Capitals allowed Semin to depart via free agency last summer, and he appeared determined to show up his old team. He shot the puck more than anyone else in the first period — three on goal, two wide of the net. He had a solo breakaway on a penalty kill early that was thwarted when his shot ricocheted off Holtby’s glove, giving the fans another excuse to let out a huge cheer.

“He made a good save on him,” Muller said. “But it would have been different right there, actually, to get the lead, that first goal.”

Semin finished with nine shots, including four on goal.

Backstrom scored on a first-period power play and found Erskine trailing the rush for a slap-shot goal 31 seconds into the second. Backstrom had 278 assists since entering the NHL with the Capitals in 2007. Erskine had nine goals in his seven seasons in Washington. This was the first Backstrom-to-Erskine goal.

“I don’t know what to say about that,” Backstrom said. “That’s unfortunate. Or maybe fortunate, I don’t know. ... We know he can punch a guy. He can shoot it, too.”

Like Holtby, Erskine also signed a two-year contract extension on Monday.

BRUINS 4, ISLANDERS 1

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Tuukka Rask dominated at one end of the ice and his teammates controlled the opposite side, helping the Boston Bruins play a near-perfect game on the road to earn their fourth straight win.

Brad Marchand scored the go-ahead goal in the second period and the Bruins continued their dominance of the Islanders with a 4-1 victory Tuesday night — Boston’s 16th victory in its last 20 games against New York.

Adam McQuaid, David Krejci and Greg Campbell also scored for the Bruins (12-2-2), who bolstered their best start since the 1976-77 season. All four victories during the streak have come on the road, where the Bruins are 8-1-1.

“This was a great win but I think we can still play better,” said Rask, who made 36 saves for the surging Bruins. “We knew the Islanders have talented forwards so we had to be on our toes. We did a solid job as a team.”

Casey Cizikas scored for the Islanders, who are a league-worst 2-8 at home.

The Bruins came out flying, punishing the Islanders along the boards at both ends of the ice and not relenting for 60 minutes. Boston is 16-3-1 in its last 20 games against the Islanders, who remain in the basement of the Atlantic Division.

“This was a great road game,” said Bruins centre Patrice Bergeron, who added two assists. “We never stopped working and we were fortunate to have a couple of bounces go our way.”

The bruising defenceman McQuaid started the scoring at 6:43 of the first with his first goal of the season, a shot from the right point that squirted through the pads of Islanders goalie Evgeni Nabokov.

Center Tyler Seguin skated out of traffic in the left circle to make the pass to McQuaid. The assist was the 100th point of the 21-year-old Seguin’s career. The second overall pick of the 2010 draft is on five-game points streak with a goal and four assists.

Cizikas tied the score at 15:49 of the first when he jammed a rebound past Rask. Josh Bailey raced down the right side and swooped in front of Rask, backhanding a shot toward the goalie. Cizikas tapped in the loose puck for his second goal of the season.

That was all the Islanders could muster in their second straight loss. They had won four of six games before squandering a 2-0 lead against Carolina on Sunday and losing 4-2.

The loss didn’t leave Islanders coach Jack Capuano overly discouraged. Seething following the collapse against the Hurricanes, Capuano was pleased with several aspects of his team’s play.

“We competed well against a big, skilled high-level team,” Capuano said. “There are no easy games. We really have to learn to win close games. We had 37 shots, we worked hard and maybe we deserved better. The effort was there.”

Marchand put Boston up 2-1 with his team-leading 10th goal of the season 38 seconds into the middle period when he backhanded a rebound past Nabokov. Bergeron assisted on Boston’s first two goals.

Krejci made it 3-1 with a perfect one-timer from the left circle off a backhand pass from Milan Lucic at 5:16 of the second period, and Campbell scored into an empty net at 18:55 of the third for his second of the season.(backslash)

“We’ve gotten solid goaltending or timely scoring or great defensive plays,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “All of that gives us the stability a good team needs.”

Rask made numerous terrific saves.

The Finn twice denied Michael Grabner on breakaways and made a nifty block on Frans Nielsen while the Bruins were short-handed in the first period. He twice stopped defenceman Mark Streit with spectacular glove saves and smothered a Kyle Okposo point-blank slap shot early in the third.

The 25-year-old is 6-0-1 in his last seven games, a stretch in which he has not surrendered more than two goals in regulation.

“I’m feeling very comfortable,” Rask said. “And my teammates have been great in front of me. The key for us is to keep this going when we get home.”

Boston’s league-best penalty kill stymied the Islanders three times. The Bruins have 24 consecutive penalty kills since allowing a power-play goal in Montreal on Feb. 6. They have stopped 58 of 61 chances this season.

The Islanders, who play nine of their next 12 games at home, were playing their second on a seven-game homestand.

“There’s a lot of hockey left to play,” Capuano added. “We have to compete like we played tonight every night.”SUNRISE, Fla. — Tomas Kopecky recorded his first career hat trick and Tomas Fleischmann had the go-ahead score for his 100th career goal, lifting the Florida Panthers to a 6-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.

Brian Campbell and Marcel Goc also scored, and Fleischmann added two assists for the Panthers. Scott Clemmensen stopped all 15 shots he faced in the third after replacing Jose Theodore during the second intermission. Theodore stopped 15 of 19 shots through the first and second periods.

Chris Kunitz, Dustin Jeffrey, Paul Martin and James Neal scored for the Penguins. Mark Andre-Fleury made 12 saves for Pittsburgh and Sidney Crosby had two assists.

Kopecky, who has six goals in his last six games, scored his third of the game on an empty-netter from his own blue line that made the score 6-4 with one minute left.

PANTHERS 6, PENGUINS 4

SUNRISE, Fla. — Tomas Kopecky recorded his first career hat trick and Tomas Fleischmann had the go-ahead score for his 100th career goal, lifting the Florida Panthers to a 6-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.

Brian Campbell and Marcel Goc also scored and Fleischmann added two assists for the Panthers. Scott Clemmensen stopped all 15 shots he faced in the third after replacing Jose Theodore during the second intermission. Theodore stopped 15 of 19 shots through the first and second period.

Chris Kunitz, Dustin Jeffrey, Paul Martin, and James Neal scored for the Penguins. Mark Andre-Fleury made 12 saves for Pittsburgh and Sidney Crosby had two assists.

Kopecky, who has six goals in his last six games, scored his third of the game on an empty-netter from his own blue line that made the score 6-4 with one minute left.

SABRES 2, LIGHTNING 1

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tyler Myers scored a go-ahead goal early in third period, helping Ron Rolston win for the first time as Buffalo’s interim coach with a victory over Tampa Bay.

Myers made it 2-1 from the top of the left circle 52 seconds into the third after a Tampa Bay turnover. Rolston replaced long-time Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff on Feb. 20.

Ryan Miller made 30 saves and improved to 19-7-0 against the Lightning. The Sabres also got a goal from Cody Hodgson, while Thomas Vanek had two assists.

Steven Stamkos extended his goals streak to six games with his 14th for Tampa Bay. Miller stopped Stamkos on a point-blank chance in the third.

STARS 5, BLUE JACKETS 4, OT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Loui Eriksson fought off two defenders to get his stick on a rebound and jammed it in 3:03 into overtime to give Dallas a victory over Columbus.

Cody Eakin had given the Stars a 4-3 lead with 6:24 left in regulation, but R.J. Umberger scored from the right hash with just 1:34 remaining to force overtime.

Eakin, Antoine Roussel and Derek Roy each had a goal and an assist. Brenden Morrow scored, and Stephane Robidas and Brenden Dillon each had two assists for the Stars, who had lost three of four.

Cam Atkinson, Nikita Nikitin and Derek Dorsett scored the other goals for Columbus, which lost its third in a row and sixth in seven games.

JETS 4, RANGERS 3

NEW YORK (AP) — Olli Jokinen scored twice and Evander Kane had a goal and assist in the second period for surging Winnipeg, which closed a 4-1 road trip with a win over New York.

After a scoreless first period, Jokinen broke the deadlock 5:55 into the second off an assist from Kane, who then gave Winnipeg a 2-0 lead 1:07 later with his eighth goal of the season.

Kane added his second of the game and ninth of the season in the third period — in between a pair of Rangers tallies — as three goals were scored in a span of 1:13 that brought New York within 4-3.

Ondrej Pavelec, playing in his eighth straight game, made 30 saves for the win.

Ryan Callahan, Taylor Pyatt and Anton Stralman scored for the Rangers.

WILD 2, FLAMES 1, OT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Zach Parise scored 27 seconds into OT to lift Minnesota over Calgary.

With the Wild sputtering on offence once again, Jason Zucker scored for Minnesota with 4:19 left in regulation to send it to overtime.

Calgary’s Mark Giordano was then given a delay-of-game penalty with 43 seconds to go. The penalty carried over into the extra period, and Parise beat goalie Joey MacDonald for the 4-on-3 winner. Parise’s goal was only Minnesota’s fourth in its last 41 power-play opportunities.

Alex Tanguay scored for the Flames and MacDonald stopped 28 shots.

Niklas Backstrom made 20 saves for the Wild.

SHARKS 3, AVALANCHE 2, SO

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Patrick Marleau scored in the fourth round of the shootout, Antti Niemi stopped three shots in the final session and the San Jose Sharks showed signs of coming out of a monthlong slump with a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night.

Michal Handzus made the first shot and two Sharks missed before Marleau shook Semyon Varlamov, sneaking the puck between the goaltender’s legs for the winning score. Niemi turned aside 25 of 27 shots before the shootout and tossed aside John Mitchell’s attempt to send it to a fifth round.

Logan Couture and TJ Galiardi also scored goals for the Sharks, who snapped a two-game losing streak. San Jose has won eight straight at home, including three in overtime.

Chuck Kobasew scored in the first period for the Avalanche and Mark Olver tied it with 3:16 remaining in regulation.