Alex Ovechkin

Ovechkin gets 497th career goal, Capitals beat Islanders 4-1

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 1:09 a.m. ET

foxsports

NEW YORK (AP) Alex Ovechkin scored his 497th career goal, Braden Holtby stopped 34 shots to keep up his stellar play and the NHL-leading Washington Capitals beat the New York Islanders 4-1 Thursday night.

Jason Chimera, Nate Schmidt and Nicklas Backstrom also scored to help Washington reach 63 points and become the first team with 30 wins. Holtby improved to 26-4-2, including 18-0-2 in his last 21 games.

It was the teams' first meeting since the Capitals won a seven-game series with the Islanders in the first round of the playoffs last season.

Brock Nelson scored for New York and Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves in his first action in nearly three weeks. The Islanders had won four of six and fell to 7-2-2 against Metropolitan Division foes.