NIEDERREITER CAPS WILD RALLY
Down 3-0 after the first period and 4-1 after 40 minutes, the Wild scored four unanswered goals in the final frame – including the winning marker by Nino Niederreiter with 4:33 remaining in regulation – to improve to 3-1-1 in their last five outings.

* Via Elias, the Wild earned their first regulation victory in franchise history when trailing by three or more goals.

* The Wild became the seventh team to win this season when facing a deficit of at least three goals and the third to do so in the past four days, following the Blues Dec. 6 at NYI (trailed 3-0, won 6-4) and Senators Dec. 7 vs. VAN (trailed 3-0, won 4-3 OT).

* Elias also says that the Wild became the first team to rally from multiple three-goal deficits to win in regulation since Feb. 16, 2013, when Jordan Eberle and Ales Hemsky both scored twice to help the Oilers overcome 3-0 and 4-1 holes in a 6-4 victory vs. COL.

* Niederreiter, who was originally selected fifth overall by the Islanders in the 2010 NHL Draft, now has 2-2—4 in three games against his former club. The 22-year-old Chur, Switzerland, native recorded 2-1—3 in 64 total games with the Islanders; he has 26-25—51, including four game-winning goals, in 107 contests since joining the Wild.

* Thomas Vanek, another former Islander, posted the tying goal and also collected the primary assist on Niederreiter’s winner for his fourth multi-point performance of the season.

* Making his return to lineup after missing two games with the mumps, Ryan Suter matched a career high with three assists/points.

* Zach Parise (2-6—8), Mikko Koivu (3-3—6) and Jason Pominville (2-3—5) all extended their point streaks to five games.

* Playing in his 400th NHL contest, Niklas Backstrom recorded 15 saves to improve to 193-137-48 with a 2.45 goals-against average, .916 save percentage and 28 shutouts.

BLACKHAWKS RUN STREAK TO SEVEN . . .
Duncan Keith posted the tying goal with 3:13 remaining in regulation and both Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane scored in the shootout to power the Blackhawks to their seventh consecutive victory, tied for the longest winning streak in the NHL this season.

* Three other clubs have posted seven-game winning streaks in 2014-15: the Ducks (Oct. 11-24), Blues (Oct. 25 – Nov. 6) and Penguins (Oct. 25 – Nov. 8).

* The Blackhawks last recorded a winning streak of at least seven games April 6-19, 2013, when they reeled off seven consecutive victories.

* Toews improved to 35-for-72 (48.6%), with 11 game-deciding goals, in his shootout career. Kane improved to 33-for-81 (40.7%). Both players rank in the top 10 among active skaters in career shootout goals.

* Making his second consecutive start, Scott Darling stopped 22 shots – and denied both shootout attempts he faced – to improve to 4-1-0 with a 1.76 goals-against average and .939 save percentage in five appearances this season.

* Patrick Sharp collected one assist in his first appearance since Nov. 4. He now has 3-7—10 in 14 games this season.

* The Blackhawks improved to 4-0 in shootouts this season. The Islanders (5-0) and Bruins (2-0) are the only other teams yet to suffer a shootout loss.

* The Blackhawks have earned points in four straight visits to New Jersey dating to April 2, 2010 (3-0-1); they were 0-6-2 in their eight prior trips from March 17, 1999 – March 17, 2009.

. . . PREDATORS, JETS KEEP PACE IN CENTRAL DIVISION
The Predators (18-7-2, 38 points) and Jets (15-9-5, 35 points) also won Tuesday to keep pace with the Blackhawks (19-8-1, 39 points) for the top spot in the Central Division.

* Pekka Rinne denied all 26 shots he faced to record his 35th career shutout and lift the Predators to their sixth victory in their last eight starts. Rinne continues to lead all goaltenders with 18 wins this season and also ranks in the top five in goals-against average (2nd; 1.81), save percentage (2nd; .934) and shutouts (t-3rd; 3). Filip Forsberg (1-1—2) potted the game-winning goal, his fourth of the season (tied for first in the NHL). He continues to lead all rookies in goals (12), points (27) and plus/minus (+23; leads entire NHL).

* Tied at 2-2 early in the second period, Adam Lowry scored twice in 2:19 – his first career multi-goal/point performance – to help the Jets extend their point streak to seven games (5-0-2). Dustin Byfuglien saw his four-game goal streak come to an end, but recorded two assists to stretch his point streak to five contests (4-3—7). Rookie Michael Hutchinson made 26 saves to improve to 6-1-2 in 10 appearances; he leads the NHL with a 1.67 goals-against average and .941 save percentage.

CONNAUTON LIFTS BLUE JACKETS IN OVERTIME
After yielding the game-tying goal to Brayden Schenn with less than one minute remaining in regulation, Kevin Connauton scored at 1:58 of overtime to power the Blue Jackets to their season-high fourth consecutive victory.

* Connauton, who was claimed by the Blue Jackets off waivers Nov. 18, registered just his second career goal. His first came with the Stars Dec. 16, 2013 at COL (2-9—11 in 51 GP).

* Per Elias, Connauton is the third player in Blue Jackets history to record his first goal for the club in overtime. The others: Ethan Moreau (Oct. 9, 2010 at SJS) and James Wisniewski (Nov. 19, 2011 at NSH).

* Boone Jenner posted the opening marker, extending his goal streak to a career-long four games (4-0—4).

* Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves. He has started all four games during the club’s winning streak, compiling a 1.70 goals-against average and .948 save percentage in that span.

* Brandon Dubinsky logged one assist and 19:09 of ice-time in his season debut.

OVECHKIN POWERS CAPITALS PAST LIGHTNING
Alex Ovechkin snapped a four-game goal/point drought with a pair of markers to lead the Capitals to their third consecutive victory, their second such winning streak of the season (also Nov. 7-11).

* Ovechkin paces the Capitals and is tied for sixth in the NHL with 14 goals in 27 contests. He now has 37-37—74 in 56 career games against the Lightning, his second-highest point total against any opponent (41-41—82 in 55 GP vs. WPG/ATL).

* Nicklas Backstrom and Marcus Johansson both collected two assists. Backstrom leads the team and is tied for third in the NHL with 22 helpers in 27 games this season.

* Braden Holtby posted his second consecutive 33-save performance (also Dec. 6 at NJD), including 15 stops in the third period. He now has 71 career victories, all with the Capitals, to move into sole possession of fourth place on the franchise’s all-time wins list.

DID YOU KNOW?
Lightning captain Steven Stamkos recorded his 250th NHL goal (250-209—459 in 439 GP):

* At 24 years, 305 days, Stamkos became the 10th-youngest player in NHL history to reach 250 goals. He also became the third player in Lightning history to achieve the milestone, joining Vincent Lecavalier (383) and Martin St. Louis (365).

* Since 2009-10, Elias says Stamkos (227) and Ovechkin (216) are the only players with at least 200 goals.

* Stamkos and Ovechkin now have faced each other 30 times during the regular season. Per Elias, Ovechkin has scored in 15 of those games – and the Capitals have won all 15.

AROUND THE RINKS
Highlights from the rest of Tuesday’s action:

* Jhonas Enroth stopped all 34 shots he faced and Tyler Ennis potted the lone goal to help the Sabres improve to 12-1-1, including six consecutive wins, in their last 14 home games against the Kings dating to Dec. 17, 1993. Enroth recorded his fourth career shutout and first since April 13, 2013 vs. PHI. All four of his shutouts have come by 1-0 margins – per Elias, he is the first goaltender in NHL history to post each of his first four shutouts in 1-0 victories.

* Making his career-high ninth consecutive start, Jonathan Bernier recorded 32 saves to help the Maple Leafs complete a 4-1-0 homestand. James van Riemsdyk (1-1—2), Nazem Kadri (0-2—2) and Dion Phaneuf (0-2—2) all posted multi-point games; the Maple Leafs improved to 10-0-0 when van Riemsdyk scores this season. With an 11-7-0 record at Air Canada Centre, the Maple Leafs are tied for the most home-ice victories in the NHL.

* Knotted at 2-2 after the opening period, the Sharks scored three unanswered goals to split their home-and-home series with the Oilers and pick up their fifth win in their past six outings. Joe Pavelski (2-0—2) registered his fourth multi-goal game of the season, while Logan Couture (1-1—2), Patrick Marleau (0-2—2) and Joe Thornton (0-2—2) also collected multi-point performances. Marleau extended his point streak to six contests (1-8—9).

GIRGENSONS EXTENDS LEAD IN ALL-STAR FAN VOTE
Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons continues to lead all players in the 2015 NHL All-Star Fan Vote presented by SiriusXM, adding more than 400,000 votes last week to pace all players with 803,805 total selections. The Riga, Latvia, native has received nearly 82 percent of his total votes from his home country and 80 percent of his votes from Sabres fans.

Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane moved into the second spot in the overall leaderboard with 375,758 votes, while teammate Jonathan Toews occupies third place with 367,962 votes.

Through three weeks, the top vote-getters by position are forwards Girgensons, Kane and Toews; defensemen Duncan Keith (361,830) of the Blackhawks and P.K. Subban (351,726) of the Canadiens; and goaltender Corey Crawford (311,166) of the Blackhawks.

More than 14 million votes from 182 countries have been cast to date, up 65 percent from last week.

Click here for the complete results through three weeks of balloting. The real-time leaderboard of the top vote-getters is available at NHL.com/vote.

LOOSE PUCKS
Stars forward Tyler Seguin notched his League-leading 22nd goal and 36th point of the season . . . Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman (0-3—3) posted his third three-assist game of the season. He has 3-10—13 in 11 appearances . . . Flyers forward Brayden Schenn (2-0—2) recorded his second multi-goal game of the season . . . Maple Leafs forward Joffrey Lupul (4-4—8), Oilers forward David Perron (3-2—5) and Flames captain Mark Giordano (1-4—5) all extended their point streaks to five games . . . Sharks forward Joe Thornton (349-869—1,218 in 1,237 GP) moved into sole possession of 40th place on the NHL’s all-time points list . . . Making his return to Columbus following an offseason trade, Flyers forward R.J. Umberger skated in his 700th NHL game . . . Flyers defenseman Mark Streit (600) and Islanders forward Brock Nelson (100) also played in milestone games . . . Avalanche forward Borna Rendulic (Zagreb, Croatia) became the first Croatian-born player to appear in the NHL . . . Devils goaltender Keith Kinkaid made 37 saves in his first NHL start . . . Sharks forward Barclay Goodrow scored his first NHL goal, while linemate Melker Karlsson collected his first NHL assist/point in his League debut . . . Islanders defenseman Griffin Reinhart posted his first NHL assist/point . . . ICYMI: The Department of Player Safety fined Islanders forward Anders Lee $2,286.29, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for elbowing Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson . . . The Ducks signed free-agent goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to a one-year contract . . . The Blue Jackets announced details of the events surrounding the 2015 NHL All-Star Weekend.

SNEAK PEEK AT WEDNESDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
Toronto @ Detroit, 8:00 p.m., NBCSN, SN, TVA
Edmonton @ Anaheim, 10:00 p.m., SNW, SNOL, FS-W