Tom Wilson scored two goals and Alex Ovechkin added one more as the Washington Capitals notched three goals in a four-plus minute span of the second period before holding on for a 5-4 victory over the visiting New York Rangers on Sunday afternoon.
Those three goals came in a span of 4 minutes, 24 seconds and gave the Capitals a 3-0 lead. Evgeny Kuznetsov made it 4-0 early in the third period, but the Rangers scored four times in nearly 9 1/2 minutes although they never caught Washington.
T.J. Oshie finished with one goal and two assists to help the Capitals.
Colin Blackwell celebrated his 28th birthday with two goals for New York while Alexis Lafreniere and Chris Kreider both scored once.
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Washington now has won three in a row and 10 of its last 11 games. Ovechkin continued his roll and has scored 11 goals in that run.
The Rangers got their bench boss back as coach David Quinn returned after missing six games while on the COVID-19 protocol list — New York went 4-2-0 under acting coach Kris Knoblauch — who remained as an assistant for this game along with Jacques Martin.
Assistant coach David Oliver is still in COVID protocol.
New York nearly took a 1-0 lead just past the halfway mark of the first period when Mika Zibanejad flipped a shot off the face of Oshie that appeared to roll over the line. But the officials ruled that the puck didn’t fully make it across, and the game remained scoreless.
The Caps then took over in the second period, thanks to those three quick goals. Wilson made it 1-0 by putting away the rebound of a Jakub Vrana shot with 9:17 remaining.
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Then, just 1:46 later, Ovechkin scored his 724th career goal. He was at a sharp angle in the left corner and threw the puck towards goalie Keith Kinkaid, and it deflected in to give Washington a 2-0 edge.
Wilson then wrapped up the quick three-goal run by knocking a shot in out of mid-air. Nicklas Backstrom fired one that Kinkaid stopped but it popped up, and Wilson buried it for a 3-0 lead.
Oshie’s goal made it 5-2 with 8:14 remaining.
–Field Level Media