The Washington Capitals won for the fifth time in their last six games as they defeated the visiting Winnipeg Jets 4-3 Wednesday night.
John Carlson, Jakob Chychrun, Alex Ovechkin, and Connor McMichael scored, while Tom Wilson, Sonny Milano, Ethen Frank, Matt Roy, and Anthony Beauvillier picked up assists for the Capitals. Washington’s Charlie Lindgren made 18 saves.
Gabriel Vilardi got a pair of goals and Mark Scheifele scored once for Winnipeg. Kyle Connor had three assists. Josh Morrissey and Dylan DeMelo each had an assist. Eric Comrie made 30 stops for the Jets.
Washington opened the scoring at 6:38 in the contest when Wilson led a rush into the Jets’ zone and found Carlson alone in the slot for a 1-0 lead.
Chychrun would make it 2-0 for the Capitals with a screened point shot with 5:39 left in the first period.
Winnipeg cut the deficit with 22 seconds remaining in the opening frame. Connor picked off a turnover in the Capitals’ end and fed Vilardi for a tap-in, making it 2-1.
Vilardi got his second of the game on the power play to tie it 1:24 into the second period. He tipped in Morrissey’s long shot from the blue line from the side of the net to make it 2-2.
Ovechkin restored Washington’s lead just 3:58 later in the middle stanza. On the night he was honored for reaching 1,500 games and 900 goals, he spun off the boards and fired a high shot past Comrie for career goal No. 908 to give his team a 3-2 advantage.
The Capitals went up 4-2 at the 5:25 mark of the third period. McMichael picked up a turnover on their blue line and raced up the ice on a breakaway and scored on a backhand.
Winnipeg got within one with 4:49 remaining in regulation from Scheifele, who snapped in a shot, but that was as close as the Jets would get, suffering their third straight loss.
