WASHINGTON (AP) — Connor McMichael struck twice, Alex Ovechkin scored his 859th career goal and two assists and the Washington Capitals continued their dominant start to the season with a 7-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.
McMichael and Ovechkin both have goals in three straight games for Washington, which advances to 8-2 on the season.
Ovechkin is 36 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's record. He's currently on pace to finish with 49 goals, which would set him up to hit 895 later this season.
Both Ovechkin and McMichael helped ignite Washington's offense as the team managed a five-goal first period, where all four lines got on the scoresheet. Damon Severson and Kevin Labanc scored for the Blue Jackets, who dropped both games of their back-to-back.
Logan Thompson made 34 saves and remains undefeated so far in his Capitals' tenure. Daniil Tarasov stopped 15 of 22 shots for Columbus.
Takeaways
Blue Jackets: Columbus outshot Washington, but the defense struggled in front of Tarasov as the team gave up six goals for the second consecutive game. The Blue Jackets were outscored 12-4 in this back-to-back series.
Capitals: Offense continues to come easily for the surging Caps, which wasn't the story last season. They've scored at least five goals in five of the last seven games.
Key moment
Aliaksei Protas got the scoring started just 56 seconds in on a 2-on-0 break with Dylan Strome, who also had a three-point night, for his third goal in as many games.
Key stat
Ovechkin is up to six goals in 10 games to open the 2024-25 season. Last year, it took him 30 games to hit that number, which also came against the Blue Jackets.
Up Next
The Capitals visit the Hurricanes on Sunday, and The Blue Jackets head out west to face the Sharks on Tuesday.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Sammi Silber, The Associated Press
