Tom Wilson scored two goals and Alex Ovechkin added one more as the Washington Capitals notched three goals in a four-plus minute span of the second period before holding on for a 5-4 victory over the visiting New York Rangers on Sunday afternoon.
Those three goals came in a span of 4 minutes, 24 seconds and gave the Capitals a 3-0 lead. Evgeny Kuznetsov made it 4-0 early in the third period, but the Rangers scored four times in nearly 9 1/2 minutes although they never caught Washington.
TJ Oshie finished with one goal and two assists to help the Capitals, while Ilya Samsonov made 16 saves.
Colin Blackwell celebrated his 28th birthday with two goals for New York while Alexis Lafreniere and Chris Kreider both scored once. Keith Kinkaid made 17 stops for New York.
Washington now has won three in a row and 10 of its last 11 games. Ovechkin continued his roll and has scored 11 goals in that run.
The Rangers got their bench boss back as coach David Quinn returned after missing six games while on the Covid-19 protocol list – New York went 4-2-0 under acting coach Kris Knoblauch – who remained as an assistant for this game along with Jacques Martin. Assistant coach David Oliver is still in Covid protocol.
New York nearly took a 1-0 lead just past the halfway mark of the first period when Mika Zibanejad flipped a shot off the face of Oshie that appeared to roll over the line. But the officials ruled that the puck didn’t fully make it across, and the game remained scoreless.
The Caps then took over in the second period, thanks to those three quick goals. Wilson made it 1-0 by putting away the rebound of a Jakub Vrana shot with 9:17 remaining. 
Then, just 1:46 later, Ovechkin scored his 724th career goal. He was at a sharp angle in the left corner and threw the puck towards Kinkaid, and it deflected in to give Washington a 2-0 edge.
Wilson then wrapped up the quick three-goal run by knocking a shot in out of mid-air. Nicklas Backstrom fired one that Kinkaid stopped but it popped up, and Wilson buried it for a 3-0 lead. Oshie’s goal made it 5-2 with 8:14 remaining.


Huberdeau’s two goals lead Panthers past Stars
Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice and had an assist Sunday to lead Florida to a 4-1 win over the host Dallas Stars in a game marred by an injury to Panthers’ No. 1 defenseman Aaron Ekblad.
The No. 1 overall selection in the 2014 draft, Ekblad fell after being tangled up near the end boards with Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell in the Florida offensive zone at 8:58 of the second period. After about 10 minutes, Ekblad was stretchered off the ice.
Huberdeau’s tallies gave him 18 points – seven goals and 11 assists – in 16 career games against Dallas. He assisted on Owen Tippett’s empty-net goal with 1:05 left in regulation.
Anthony Duclair scored on a penalty shot, and Chris Driedger stopped 33 of 34 shots to win for the second time in six starts (2-3-1). Rookie Jason Robertson tallied for the Stars, and Jake Oettinger allowed three goals on 22 shots and fell to 0-2-0 against Florida.
In the fifth meeting between the Central Division foes, the play was fast early as the clubs put three tallies on the board in a span of 1:56. The Stars scored first when Roope Hintz sent a shot that Robertson redirected in for his sixth goal on their first power play.
However, Florida notched a pair in 86 seconds to take a 2-1 lead, with Huberdeau and Duclair scoring to push the Panthers to their first advantage.
Huberdeau’s sly steal of a pass on the half boards led to the left winger charging in and roofing a shot high over Oettinger on the stick side. Soon after, Duclair was fouled by Andrew Cogliano on a breakaway, resulting in a penalty shot.
Goalless on three career penalty shots, Duclair skated in wide from the right and rang a forehander in on his first penalty-shot attempt since 2018. Seven minutes later, Huberdeau wristed in his 13th goal on Florida’s second man advantage for a 3-1 lead. Driedger made 27 saves over the final two periods, including a breakaway by Hintz at 7:08 of the third, to improve to 9-4-2.
Meanwhile Michael Rasmussen scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, and goalie Calvin Pickard collected his second win in as many days Sunday, leading the host Detroit Red Wings to a 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Rasmussen›s tally was his first of the season. Evgeny Svechnikov, Filip Hronek and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for Detroit. Namestnikov›s goal gave him 200 career points. Pickard had not recorded a victory since November 2018 until the back-to-back wins in his first two starts this season. He made 16 saves Sunday, one day after saving 20 of 21 shots as the Red Wings beat Columbus 3-1 on Saturday.