Ovechkin scores twice, leads Capitals to win over Islanders

NEW YORK (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored twice and Hunter Shepard got his second career NHL victory and the Washington Capitals beat the New York Islanders 4-1 Saturday night.

Nic Dowd and Aliaksei Protas also scored as the Capitals won for the third time in four games. The 28-year-old Shepard finished with 36 saves in his second NHL start.

Alex Romanov scored and Semyon Varlamov made 34 saves as the Islanders lost their fourth straight (0-3-1).

Ovechkin opened the scoring at 9:18 of the first period. Evgeny Kuznetsov won a faceoff in the offensive zone straight to Ovechkin on the edge of the circle.

Ovechkin later added an empty-net goal in the closing seconds of the game for his 826th NHL goal. The Capitals' captain is second all-time on the NHL goal-scoring list — 68 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894.

The Islanders tied the score 1-1 in the final minute of the first period when Romanov notched his first goal of the season. Shepard misplayed a puck behind the net and Bo Horvat set up Romanov for an open-net finish.

Washington scored two goals in a 6:15 stretch during the second period to take a 3-1 lead.

Dowd batted a puck out of midair to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead with 6:55 left in the period. Varlamov made a superb sprawling glove save on Nicolas Aube-Kubel, but Dowd crashed the net and buried the rebound.

Protas picked up his first of the season and stretched the Capitals lead to two goals with 40 seconds remaining. Matthew Phillips found Protas all alone in the slot after Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield lost track of his assignment.

UP NEXT

Capitals: Host Vegas on Tuesday night.

Islanders: At Edmonton on Tuesday night to begin a four-game trip.

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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL