CapitalS 4, DevilS 0

» Alex Ovechkin WASHINGTON scored twice, Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves and the Capitals rode their best players to a victory Friday and a two-game sweep of the Devils.

Ovechkin has scored 10 times in his past 10 games and has a teambest 17 goals this season. He’s eight shy of Marcel Dionne for fifth on the NHL’s career goal list after scoring his 722nd and 723rd.

Nicklas Backstrom scored his 13th goal of the season, while Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson each had two assists. Conor Sheary had a goal and an assist, and Samsonov improved to 7-1-1 with his first shutout since Jan. 13, 2020.

With Ovechkin rolling, the Capitals have won nine of their past 10 games and are back atop the East Division. They’re tied at 48 points with former coach Barry Trotz’s New York Islanders but hold the tiebreaker having played one fewer game.

Washington looked more like itself — a poised, veteran team — in the second game against New Jersey in two nights following four days off. While they came back to win Thursday, the Capitals never trailed in this one.

DuckS 4, BlueS 1

» Sam Steel and Max ST. LOUIS

Jones each scored a goal, and the Ducks beat the Blues.

Anaheim goalie John Gibson stopped 33 shots in his first game back after missing five with a lowerbody injury. Derek Grant and Richard Rakell added empty-net goals in the final 63 seconds to help the Ducks win for the second time in nine games.

Ryan O’Reilly scored for St. Louis, which has lost three consective game and has six in a row at home.

The Blues had won six straight and eight of their previous nine againsttheDucks—includingthe first four meetings this season.

Anaheim scored twice in the second period to take the lead.

Steel scored the first goal at 2:23 when the puck caromed in off his skate. Jakob Silfverberg threw the puck in from the corner. Steel was in front of the net. The puck hit his skate and the fortuitous deflection past Jordan Binnington. It was the eighth consecutive game the Blues allowed the first goal.

Anaheim made it 2-0 when Max Jones scored at 19:07 of the period. Torey Krug turned the puck over in the corner to Ryan Getzlaf. He got the puck to Jones, who skated in, made a nifty move and tucked it around Binnington.

The game was Binnington’s first back-to-back set of games this season, losing both games. Binnington, who had 20 saves, fell to 10-10-4 overall and 4-2 against Ducks.