Rookie Ryan Leonard scored two goals and had two assists and Alex Ovechkin added two goals as the visiting Washington Capitals earned their sixth straight victory, a 7-1 rout of the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.
It was the 181st multi-goal game of Ovechkin’s career, second only to Wayne Gretzky’s 189 in the NHL history. The two goals were No. 910 and No. 911 of his career, extending his league career record.
Brandon Duhaime had a short-handed goal and an assist, Matt Roy logged three assists and Sonny Milano and Dylan Strome scored a goal apiece for Washington, which moved two points ahead of the idle Carolina Hurricanes into sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division. Trevor van Riemsdyk added two assists.
Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves and also had an assist while winning his fourth straight start for the Capitals, who prevailed for the ninth time in 10 games.
Pavol Regenda scored a power-play goal for San Jose, which has alternated wins and losses for eight games. Alex Nedeljkovic, who took over for starter Yaroslav Askarov at the 17:07 mark of the first period, finished with 15 saves. Askarov stopped eight of 12 shots before being pulled.
Washington led 4-0 after the first period and 6-0 after the second.
The Capitals jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 8:25 mark when Ovechkin chipped in a rebound of a Roy shot.
Milano then put in a wrist shot from the left circle to make it 2-0 at 10:05, and Leonard roofed a rebound of a van Riemsdyk shot from the bottom of the left circle for the Capitals’ third goal in the span of 5:10.
Duhaime, off a highlight-reel drop pass from Aliaksei Protas, extended the lead to 4-0 with a short-handed goal at 17:07.
Ovechkin got his second goal of the night on a power play at the 2:41 mark of the second period with a one-timer from the left circle.
Strome deflected a Roy shot to make it 6-0 just before the end of the middle period.
Leonard scored his second goal to make it 7-0 at 1:03 of the third period when he drove the net and put in a backhand shot. He became the first rookie to record a four-point game in the NHL this season.
Regenda ruined Lindgren’s shutout bid with 7:02 remaining when Dmitry Orlov’s point shot deflected into the net off his skate.
–Field Level Media
