Carlson leads Caps past the Lightning

Capitals 4, Lightning 3: John Carlson was better than good, Alex Ovechkin reached another milestone and host Washington handed Tampa Bay a third consecutive loss.

Carlson scored twice and added two assists for a four-point game, Ovechkin reached 1,400 career points with his 43rd goal of the season and the Capitals beat the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champions 4-3 on Wednesday night to snap their own skid at two.

Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” – Carlson’s goal song – actually played three times, though one was disallowed because he went offside prior to scoring. The two that counted came on perfect shots on the power play to beat reigning playoff MVP Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Ovechkin also beat his countryman on a broken play to notch his 773rd goal. He became the 21st player in NHL history to reach 1,400 points, and fans gave the longtime captain and face of the franchise a standing ovation for reaching his latest plateau.

While a five-goal first period doesn’t scream great goaltending, Washington’s Ilya Samsonov made a handful of crucial saves on Lightning scoring chances created by teammates’ mistakes. Samsonov most memorably denied 2019 MVP Nikita Kucherov on a 2on-1 rush with Brayden Point.

Blues 4, Kraken 1: Ville Husso made 27 saves, and Robert Thomas, Justin Faulk, Jordan Kyrou and Ryan O’Reilly each scored to help host St. Louis over Seattle.

The Blues have won three in a row and recorded a point in each of their last six games. They also have a point in 11 of their last 14 contests and improved to 15-3-3 against the Pacific Division.

Husso, who has supplanted Jordan Binnington as the Blues’ top netminder, stopped the first 17 shots to record his third win over the Kraken this season. Husso is 13-2-1 at home this season.

Jordan Eberle scored for Seattle, which has lost three of four and coming off a win Sunday against Dallas. Chris Driedger made 32 saves.

Red Wings 3, Jets 1: Sam Gagner scored twice to top 500 career points, and visiting Detroit beat Winnipeg.

Michael Rasmussen had the tiebreaking goal at 9:11 of the third period for Detroit, Dylan Larkin had two assists and Thomas Greiss finished with 32 saves. Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill got his 200th victory.

Detroit won for the second straight night after beating Boston 5-3 on Tuesday.