Scorers" Duel Ends in Favor of Ovechkin Ovechkin once. Ovechkin twice. Steen not at all. Just like that, there's a tie atop the N.H.L. goal-scoring race as well as a new leader in the Metropolitan Division. Alex Ovechkin scored his 16th and 17th goals in the first period and Alexander Steen was held pointless for only the second time this season Sunday night in the host Washington Capitals" 4-1 win over the St. Louis Blues. "For me, it means a lot," Ovechkin said. It's always nice to score big goals in big games, but it was a very good team effort today. Braden Holtby made 46 saves, a career high for a regular-season game. Mikhail Grabovski and John Carlson also scored, and Nicklas Backstrom had three assists for the Capitals, who have won three straight and seven out of nine to leapfrog the Pittsburgh Penguins for first place in the division. Vladimir Sobotka scored in the second period for the Blues, who had won eight of 10. The Capitals caught them at a good time, with St. Louis playing for the third time in four nights and on the second half of a back-to-back after a home win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. WILD 2, JETS 1 Mikko Koivu scored two goals, including the winner with 3 minutes 12 seconds remaining, and host Minnesota extended its winning streak to four games with a victory over Winnipeg. Josh Harding made 21 saves for his 12th victory. The Wild have an eight-game points streak and pulled into second place, 2 points behind Chicago, in the Central Division. STARS 2, CANUCKS 1 Kari Lehtonen made 42 saves, and visiting Dallas defeated Vancouver. Valeri Nichushkin and Erik Cole scored for the Stars, who were coming off a 7-3 victory over Calgary on Thursday and extended their road winning streak to six. Henrik Sedin scored for the Canucks, who got 21 saves from Roberto Luongo as they dropped their fourth in a row. BLACKHAWKS 5, SHARKS 1 Patrick Sharp scored two goals, including one on a third-period penalty shot, and Kris Versteeg had a goal and an assist to lead host Chicago past San Jose. Jonathan Toews and Brandon Pirri, a rookie, also scored for the Blackhawks. BLUE JACKETS 4, SENATORS 1 Ryan Johansen, R. J. Umberger and Fedor Tyutin each had a power-play goal to lead visiting Columbus over Ottawa. Derek MacKenzie also scored for Columbus, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 shots. Erik Karlsson scored for the Senators in the third period.