WASHINGTON (AP) — Roope Hintz scored twice in the third period and the Dallas Stars rallied to beat the Washington Capitals 5-4 in a shootout Thursday night, ending their two-game skid and spoiling another milestone achievement by Alex Ovechkin.
Jason Robertson scored the only goal in the shootout to hand the Capitals a third consecutive defeat, despite Ovechkin recording his 1,500th regular-season NHL point. Scott Wedgewood made 23 saves in regulation and overtime and three more in the shootout to send the Stars home from their road trip on a happy note.
Dallas had more than just this win to celebrate, too, with forward Matt Duchene playing his 1,000th game with family in attendance. Duchene assisted on Mason Marchment’s goal in the second, and Tyler Seguin also scored for Dallas a night after leaving the team’s game Wednesday at Florida early.
Duchene was honored early in a visiting arena for reaching 1,000 games, then the crowd gave Ovechkin a standing ovation late after Washington’s longtime captain assisted on Dylan Strome’s second goal for his 1,500th point. Ovechkin became the 16th player in league history to reach that plateau, and he remains in pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s career goals record, needing 68 to break it.
Fellow Russian Evgeny Kuznetsov was in the spotlight earlier in the night, scoring in his first game back after being a healthy scratch. The underachieving Russian center getting on the scoresheet was a good start to the reset Capitals coach Spencer Carbery was hoping for by sitting Kuznetsov, who had just nine points in his first 19 games to open the penultimate season of a $62.4 million contract that pays him $7.8 million annually.
Aliaksei Protas also scored, and Charlie Lindgren made 34 saves as the Capitals lost for a fifth time in seven games. Strome’s two gave him a team-leading 10 goals this season.
UP NEXT
Stars: Open a three-game homestand Saturday against defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas.
Capitals: Host the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Rangers on Saturday.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl