Alex Ovechkin scored his 741st goal, tying him with Brett Hull for 4th on the all-time list. Tom Wilson scored twice as the Washington Capitals broke a three-game losing streak, beating the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 Monday night at Capital One Arena.
The win improves Washington’s record to 6-2-4, Buffalo falls to 5-5-2.
Once again, the Capitals were hit with injuires. Center Nic Dowd had to leave the ice in the second period with a lower-body injury. He will be re-evaluated Tuesday.
Goalie Vitek Vanecek appeared to injure his arm in the closing seconds of the game as well.
With Dowd potentially missing time again and Niklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie also on injured reserve, the Capitals top line has been forced to pick up the slack. Fortunately, the trio of Ovechkin, Wilson, and Evgeny Kuznetsov has responded.
“Willie was terrific. Kuzy controlled the game; you know that line was terrific,” head coach Peter Laviolette said after the game.
Washington opened the scoring early in the first period as Tom Wilson beat Buffalo goaltender Dustin Tokarski off a redirect from Ovechkin.
The Caps took a 2-0 lead in the opening minutes of the second when Connor McMichael scored his second goal of the season off an assist from Justin Schultz and Carl Haeglin. It was the fourth straight game in which McMichael has tallied at least one point.
“It feels good,” McMichael said. “I knew I just had to get one in, and the floodgates would open, so it feels good you just get bounces going your way once when you’re hot you’re hot, so I’m enjoying it.”
The 20-year-old was expected to play most of this season in Hershey, but injuries have forced the team to keep him in Washington, a move that seems to be paying off early in the season.
“He puts a lot of pucks at the net. That doesn’t happen by chance,” Laviolette said. “It seems like the more he plays, the more confident he gets, and you start to depend on him and rely on him a little more.” He brings the puck to the net a lot and when that happens anything can happen.”
The Sabres cut the lead to 2-1 when Cody Eakin scored off an Ovechkin turnover, but the Great Eight made up for it mid-way through the period with his 11th goal of the season.
“I just take it day by day. You know it’s nice to be in that company (Brett Hull’s). It’s pretty big numbers so just move on. It’s nice to be tied, but I still have a couple of games left,” Ovechkin said.
Wilson’s second goal and John Carlson’s power-play goal put the game out of reach in the third period. The Capitals play back-to-back games against Detroit and Columbus Thursday and Friday before returning home for a Sunday night game against Pittsburgh.