NHL-Hasek backstops Red Wings past Dallas

DALLAS, Texas, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Goaltender Dominik Hasek recorded his 78th career shutout when the Detroit Red Wings beat the Dallas Stars 3-0 on Saturday to secure their 31st of the season.

Hasek only had to make 22 saves for the shutout as the Wings beat the Stars for the second time in four days.

"It's nice to have (a) shutout, always," 42-year-old Hasek told reporters.

"I have to give all the credit to our defense. We didn't give them much. From the defensive point we played a great game and it helped me."

The win was the 375th of his career, breaking a tie with John Vanbiesbrouck for 11th place on the all-time victory list.

Brian Rafalski, Dan Cleary and Johan Franzen scored for the Red Wings.

* Defenseman Mike Green's third point of the night, a goal 1:27 into overtime, gave the visiting Washington Capitals a 5-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

Washington's Alexander Ovechkin scored twice to take him to a league-leading 32 goals this season.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins won their sixth successive game and goaltender Ty Conklin, brought up from the minor leagues because of an injury to starter Marc-Andre Fleury, recorded his seventh win and second shutout in seven starts in a 3-0 victory over the Florida Panthers.

* The Boston Bruins's P.J. Axelsson scored a goal and made two assists as the Bruins won their third successive game with a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

* Antero Niittymaki made 54 saves and Mike Richards scored a power play goal with 2:51 left to give the visiting Philadelphia Flyers a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

* Mike Fisher scored in overtime and the Ottawa Senators rallied from a 3-1 deficit to score a 4-3 road win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, who lost their seventh game in a row.

* Sam Gagner, the youngest player in the NHL at 18 years, four months, beat Henrik Lundqvist with the only goal of the shootout and the Edmonton Oilers edged the visiting New York Rangers, 3-2. The Rangers, who lost all three games of a Western trip, forced overtime when Chris Drury scored a power play goal with less than seven seconds left.

* Marek Svatos scored 2:05 into overtime to give the Colorado Avalanche a 2-1 home win over the New York Islanders.

(Writing by Mike Shalin in Boston; Editing by Greg Stutchbury and Martin Petty)