Dylan Strome scored the winner in the third round of the shootout and Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and two assists as the host Washington Capitals snapped a season-worst three-game losing streak with a 5-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Monday.
Strome deked goalie Linus Ullmark and then roofed a backhand shot for the only score of the shootout. Connor McMichael, Tom Wilson and Martin Fehervary each had a goal and an assist and Logan Thompson made 33 saves and stopped all three shootout tries for the Capitals.
Shane Pinto scored two goals, Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist and Jake Sanderson had three assists for Ottawa, which rallied from an early 3-0 deficit to tie it with a six-on-four power-play goal by Brady Tkachuk with 1:08 remaining. Tim Stutzle added two assists and Ullmark finished with 37 saves, plus two stops in the shootout.
Washington jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 1:41 mark of the first period when McMichael tucked in rebound of a Fehervary shot inside the left post. Ottawa challenged for goaltender interference on the score because McMichael clipped the right skate of Ullmark in the crease on the play, but after a video review, the goal was allowed to stand.
The Capitals made it 2-0 less than two minutes later when Dubois, stationed in the low slot, shoveled in a backhand pass from McMichael.
Wilson extended the lead to 3-0 in the second period, one-timing a Dubois pass from the edge of the left circle past Ullmark’s blocker side for his team-leading 11th power-play goal of the season.
Ottawa cut the gap to 3-1 midway through the middle period when Pinto redirected a crossing pass from Sanderson past Thompson’s blocker side.
The Senators closed within a goal early in the third period on a power-play tally by Giroux, a one-timer from the left circle past Thompson’s blocker side and inside the near post. Stutzle picked up an assist on the play to extend his point streak to 12 games and his assist streak to a franchise-record 11 games.
Pinto tied it midway through the period when he deflected a Michael Amadio pass went off the stick of Washington’s Lars Eller and through Thompson’s pads.
Fehervary put the Capitals back in front 4-3 with 7:17 to go with a wrist shot from the top of the slot. The Senators pulled Ullmark and tied it with 1:08 left with on a two-man advantage with the goalie pulled when Tkachuk put in a rebound of Stutzle shot.
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, who needs 11 goals to break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career record of 894, put five shots on target. He had a first-period attempt carom off the top of Ullmark’s glove and then the top of the crossbar.
–Field Level Media
