OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Alex Ovechkin went without a goal for the fourth straight game, while Marcus Johansson scored 2:04 into overtime to give the Washington Capitals a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.
Ovechkin is stuck at 800 goals, one short of tying Gordie Howe for second place in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky. The Russian star had two assists.
“You just have to play through it,” Ovechkin said. “If I was playing out there and (got) zero chances, yeah, I would be worried. But I have chances. Their goalie played good and right now it’s important to get two points and keep moving in the standings.”
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In overtime, Johansson raced past Drake Batherson from center ice, found an opening and beat goalie Cam Talbot.
“I just don’t like the way it ends,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said. “You’ve got to check harder in overtime, you can’t give a breakaway. Talbot did everything to hold us in there.”
Evgeny Kuznetsov and Sonny Milano also scored for the Capitals. Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves in his first start since sustaining an upper-body injury Dec. 3.
“It’s nice to be back in the lineup, first of all, and then for a big team win, it makes it feel even better being back,” Kuemper said.
Batherson and Alex DeBrincat scored for Ottawa and Talbot stopped 37 shots. Batherson tied it at 2 with a power-play goal 3:04 into the third period to extend his points streak to 10 games.
Ovechkin looked poised to pick up goal No. 801 as he got a puck past Talbot, but Milano pushed it across the goal line at 5:25 of the second, to give the Capitals a 2-1 edge. Kuznetsov tied it off a pass from Ovechkin on the power play 7:01 into the opening frame.
UP NEXT
Capitals: Host Winnipeg on Friday night.
Senators: The Senators were scheduled to host Detroit on Friday, but the game was postponed because of an expected storm. They will host Boston on Tuesday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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