COLUMBUS, Ohio — Alex Ovechkin scored his 899th career goal and added an assist, and the Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 on Friday night.
John Carlson and Connor McMichael also each had a goal and an assist, and Justin Sourdif and Tom Wilson also scored as Washington got its sixth win in seven games. Logan Thompson stopped 34 shots for his fifth straight win.
Denton Mateychuk scored and Jet Greaves finished with 25 saves for the Blue Jackets, who snapped a two-game win streak.
Ovechkin pushed Washington’s lead to 2-0 at 1:36 of the third, getting the puck off a faceoff in the right circle on the offensive end and quickly firing it past Greaves to move the NHL career goals leader one away from 900.
Sourdif made it a three-goal lead 1:04 later as he got a lead pass from Ryan Leonard , skated in on Greaves and fired it past the goalie off the right goalpost and in. Thompson also got an assist on the play.
Mateychuk ended Thompson’s shutout bid with 9:40 left as he got a pass from Sean Monahan from behind the net and quickly beat the goalie from the left side.
Wilson made it 4-1 with a power-play goal with 4:21 remaining for his fifth of the season and McMichael made it a four-goal lead 58 seconds later on the same advantage for Mathieu Oliver’s major for elbowing.
Carlson gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead with 1:41 left in the second with a one-timer off a pass from Connor McMichael that went from straightaway near the blue line along the ice through traffic in front and into the bottom left corner past Greaves.
It came on Washington’s second shot on goal of the period as they were outshot 10-2 in the second.
Each team had 12 shots on goal in a scoreless first period.
Up next
Capitals: Host Ottawa on Saturday night.
Blue Jackets: At Pittsburgh on Saturday night to open a two-game trip.
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