Justin Williams' hat trick lifts Capitals over Rangers

Justin Williams registered a hat trick and the Washington Capitals survived the loss of starting goaltender Braden Holtby to extend their impressive streak of responding after losses by beating the New York Rangers 5-2 Sunday night.

Related: Dehydrated Holtby leaves game vs. Rangers

The Capitals forward scored midway through the second period and early in the third before adding an empty-netter.

It was his first three-goal game in more than nine years.

Washington improved to 10-0-1 after a loss this season and this time did so after Holtby left with dehydration. Philipp Grubauer replaced Holtby late in the second period and stopped all 11 shots he faced.

The Capitals are on quite a roll at Verizon Center.

Holtby made 20 saves and got the victory, less than 24 hours after he was pulled during a clunker of a loss to the Buffalo Sabres.

Alex Ovechkin scored his 27th goal of the season, and Marcus Johansson also scored on the power play for Washington.

Chris Kreider scored both goals for the Rangers, and backup Antti Raanta made 19 saves in his first start since Dec. 17.

Raanta between the pipes ended a streak of 11 consecutive starts for Henrik Lundqvist. He didn't have much work early as his teammates turned up the pressure on the Capitals and made Holtby work on the penalty kill.

New York took a 1-0 lead 10:17 in when Kreider redirected captain Ryan McDonagh's point shot past Holtby from just outside the crease. That lead evaporated when penalty trouble piled up for New York.

Ovechkin scored his 10th power-play goal of the season at 18:01 to tie it, faking out defenseman Dylan McIlrath before firing a wrist shot by Raanta.

There wasn't much Raanta could do while his Rangers teammates kept taking penalties. Late in a power play after a McIlrath slashing penalty, Nicklas Backstrom made it 2-1 by tapping in a pass from Johansson. Just 1:02 later, Williams tipped Taylor Chorney's point shot in to make it 3-1.

Kreider's second of the night at 17:28 of the second period cut the Rangers' deficit to one goal. Holtby played another 14 seconds before going to the bench and leaving the game after a discussion with trainer Greg Smith.

Grubauer, who also replaced Holtby during Saturday's loss in Buffalo, made two saves the rest of the second period. The Capitals counted on him for more in the third but also gave him an insurance goal.

After a turnover by J.T. Miller, Evgeny Kuznetsov fed Williams in front at 4:51 to restore the two-goal lead. Williams added an empty-netter for his second NHL hat trick.

NOTES: Rangers defenseman Kevin Klein missed the game with a right thumb injury. McIlrath replaced him in the lineup. ... Brooks Laich returned for the Capitals after being a healthy scratch Saturday at Buffalo.

- With files from theScore