COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Anthony Mantha scored twice, and Alex Ovechkin and Connor Sheary each had a goal and an assist as the Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-2 Thursday night for their third straight win.
Martin Fehervary, Connor McMichael and Evgeny Kuznetsov also scored, and Nikolas Backstrom added two assists as Washington improved to 6-0-1 in its last seven games. Vitek Vanecek stopped 39 shots for the Capitals, who pulled one point behind Boston for the top wild card in the Eastern Conference and increased their lead over Columbus to 13 points for the second wild card.
Oliver Bjorkstrand and Patrik Laine scored for the Blue Jackets, who scored twice on their own net and broke a three-game win streak. Joonas Korpisalo stopped six of nine shots before being replaced in the second period by Elvis Merzlikins, who finished with 20 saves.
Mantha put Washington on the board at 4:29 of the first, beating Korpisalo between the pads on a breakaway. He earned his second goal of the night and put Washington up 2-0 off Korpisalo’s skate, as the goalie inadvertently guided a rebound into the net while backing into position at 12:20.
Fehervary’s goal at 1:20 of the second beat Korpisalo through the five-hole, making it 3-0 and ening his night,
Bjorkstrand pulled Columbus within two with his sixth power-play goal at 6:57, before Ovechkin took advantage of a Columbus penalty to extend the Capitals’ lead to 4-1 with a wrister from the left circle at 10:44. It was his team-leading 11th power-play goal.
Laine cut the lead to 4-2 at 1:47 of the third, tipping Zach Werenski’s shot from the blueline, but Washington went up 5-2 when McMichael was credited with the goal Dean Kukan scored into his own net as he tried to clear the puck at 4:15.
Columbus pulled Merzlikins for an extra skater with 12:48 left in the game and Sheary scored an empty netter seconds later. Kuznetsov made it 7-2 with a power-play goal at 9:03.
UP NEXT
Capitals: At Carolina on Friday night.
Blue Jackets: Host St. Louis on Saturday night.
