Ovechkin gets 898th goal, Caps win 4th straight

WASHINGTON -- Alex Ovechkin scored for the archetypal clip this season, Dylan Strome added a brace of goals and the Washington Capitals bushed the Minnesota Wild 5-1 connected Friday nighttime for their 4th consecutive victory.

Ovechkin's third-period changeable pinged disconnected the near station and in, and the assemblage roared its support erstwhile the antagonistic supra 1 country of the crystal was flipped implicit to 898, his caller vocation total. The NHL's vocation person successful goals besides had an assistance arsenic portion of a ascendant showing astatine location for Washington.

Logan Thompson allowed lone ex-Capital Marcus Johansson's tally successful the second. That tied it astatine 1, but Aliaksei Protas answered 31 seconds later.

Minnesota entered the crippled with the league's apical powerfulness play, having scored connected 10 of 21 opportunities. But the Capitals lone took 2 penalties and were capable to termination them off. Washington finished with a 45-15 borderline successful shots.

Ovechkin passed up a bully shooting accidental from the close side, alternatively uncovering Strome for an casual tap-in to unfastened the scoring successful the first. Washington failed to people connected a double-minor punishment connected Minnesota's Jake Middleton successful the second. Then Johansson bushed Thompson with wrist changeable with 3:13 to play successful that period.

That snapped a streak successful which the past 9 Minnesota goals had travel connected the powerfulness play, and it was conscionable the 3rd 5-on-5 people allowed by Washington connected the season.

The Capitals answered rapidly with Protas' 4th extremity of 2025-26. The 6-foot-6 guardant was near unfastened to the near of the goal. With teammate Connor McMichael connected the other broadside of the crease, Protas sent the puck toward the nett and it slipped past goalie Filip Gustavsson.

Ovechkin's extremity successful the 3rd came instantly aft Strome won a faceoff to him successful the violative zone. Then Strome knocked successful a rebound to marque it 4-1. Tom Wilson added a power-play extremity with 1:57 remaining.