WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin remained at 800 NHL goals when the Washington Capitals’ five-game winning streak ended with a 2-1 loss to the Dallas Stars at Capital One Arena on Thursday.
Ovechkin, who entered with a four-game goal streak, still trails Gordie Howe (801) by one for second on the all-time list. Wayne Gretzky leads with 894. Ovechkin reached 800 with a hat trick in Washington’s 7-3 win at the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.
He had one assist and five shots on goal in 22:16 of ice time. The Capitals next play Saturday when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs.
”We’re trying to win games here,” Capitals forward TJ Oshie said. ”Ovi’s’ going to do it and we’re all going to be the first ones to congratulate him and be super, super proud of him, but we’re also in a little bit of a hole here. So, we’ll take care of his business, and as a team we’ve got to focus on getting more wins here.”
Jake Oettinger made 45 saves, and Jamie Benn and Colin Miller scored 1:19 apart in the third period for Dallas (18-8-5), which has won four of its past five games.
“[Stars coach Peter DeBoer] said before that these next two goals that [Ovechkin’s] going to score the whole team’s going to come off the bench, so obviously I don’t want that to happen — not against us,” Oettinger said. “He can do that stuff another night. It’s always fun playing one of the best to ever do it. It was a fun challenge, and we stepped up.”
Video: DAL@WSH: Miller’s point shot finds twine in the 3rd
Conor Sheary scored for Washington (15-13-4). Charlie Lindgrenwho started each of his five straight victories, made 24 saves.
The Capitals outshot the Stars 30-12 over the final two periods.
“We’re going to go back and look at the scoring chances and they’re going to be ridiculous, so it’s tough,” Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. “Our guys are down the road of doing everything they can to win hockey games, and tonight it didn’t want to drop for us.”
Sheary gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 9:23 of the second period. Ovechkin received a pass in the left face-off circle Dylan Strome and passed across to Sheary, who was cutting to the net. Sheary kicked the puck to his stick and tucked it past Oettinger.
Ovechkin has 10 points (seven goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak.
“Yeah, that’s kind of the benefit of playing with [Ovechkin],” Sheary said. “The goalie plays the shot, and I snuck backdoor and was able to tap one in.”
Benn tied it 1-1 just 48 seconds into the third when he knocked in a rebound during a power play, and Miller gave Dallas a 2-1 lead at 2:07 with a wrist shot from the right point that deflected off the back of Washington forward Lars Eller and past Lindgren.
“We wanted to regroup,” DeBoer said of the difference between second and third. “We’ve got an honest group. They know when we’re playing well and when we’re not. They know how to fix it.”
Video: DAL@WSH: Benn knots the game 1-1 with a PPG in the 3rd
Oettinger made 15 saves, including in the third Yevgeny Kuznetsov‘s shot from the slot with 2:36 remaining.
“Obviously we gave up a lot of shots, but [Oettinger] played an incredible game,” said Benn, the Stars captain.[He] gave us a chance to win and probably should be all three stars (of the game) tonight.”
NOTES: Dallas is 10-1-0 in its past 11 games at Washington. … Benn has 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) over his past 18 games. … Capitals forward Sonny Milano was a late scratch because of a non-COVID illness.
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