John Carlson scored twice, and Alex Ovechkin collected a goal and an assist as the visiting Washington Capitals beat the Calgary Flames 5-3 Tuesday night.
Carlson now leads the league with 20 points and is just the fourth defenseman in NHL history to register 20 points or more in October. The others were Paul Coffey, Al MacInnis and Brian Leetch.
Braden Holtby stopped 32 shots for the Capitals, who are riding a four-game winning streak. Chandler Stephenson and Tom Wilson also had goals for Washington.
Calgary got goals from Elias Lindholm, Austin Czarnik and Tobias Rieder. Cam Talbot made 25 saves for the Flames, who have alternated wins and losses over their past four games.
After a scoreless opening frame, the teams responded with a back-and-forth, five-goal second period. Carlson opened the scoring just 35 seconds into the stanza when he somehow found the mark with a sharp-angled shot.
Stephenson doubled the lead at the 2:41 mark thanks to a fortunate bounce. He stole the puck from Talbot behind the net and banked home a shot off the skate of Flames defender Rasmus Andersson for his first of the season.
That's when the Flames responded with a pair of goals to draw even. First, Lindholm one-timed a cross-ice pass from Johnny Gaudreau to net a power-play goal at 3:19. Then, Czarnik pounced on a loose puck during a scramble at the 16:25 mark to make it a 2-2 game.
However, Ovechkin restored the Capitals' lead 10 seconds later by converting a pass from Nicklas Backstrom during a two-on-one rush.
Wilson provided the much-needed insurance tally with 7:26 left in the third period. While the Flames were pressing, Travis Hamonic committed a turnover that led to Lars Eller setting up Wilson, who notched his 150th career point.
Carlson added an empty-netter with 1:45 remaining. Rieder ended a 75-game goalless drought when he scored with 16 seconds remaining.
Carlson has five goals and 12 assists in an eight-game point streak. Ovechkin is also riding an eight-game point streak in which he has six goals and five assists.
--Field Level Media
