WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin scored his 872nd career goal to move 23 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record, and the Washington Capitals beat the struggling New York Rangers 7-4 Saturday.
Ovechkin has four goals in five games since returning from missing the previous 16 because of a broken left leg. The 39-year-old has 19 goals this season and is on pace to pass Gretzky’s mark of 894 this spring.
Dylan Strome, Lars Eller, Andrew Mangiapane, Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas also scored against Jonathan Quick, who remains stuck on 399 career wins. Tom Wilson sealed it with an empty-netter with 37.5 seconds left, and Logan Thompson made 28 saves to compensate for giving the puck away to Chris Kreider for his goal into a wide-open net.
Sam Carrick also got a goal off a turnover by Ovechkin and Filip Chytil and Mika Zibanejad scored in the third period to make things interesting. Quick allowed six goals on 27 shots as the Rangers lost for a 16th time in 21 games to sink from solidly in a playoff to tied for last place.
Rangers: After showing life Thursday by beating Boston to end a four-game skid, they were back to their sloppy, inconsistent play. Peter Laviolette’s job is in jeopardy even if his coaching is hardly to blame for so many top players underachieving.
Capitals: They didn’t play their best, and they’re in a bit of a midseason lull, but they keep winning.
Less than a minute after Zibanejad scored to cut Washington’s lead to 5-4 with 6:56 left, Protas restored the two-goal lead following his shot off the right post to the crease and putting the puck in.
With two power-play goals, the Capitals have scored seven in seven games.
The Rangers play at Chicago on Sunday afternoon, while the Capitals visit Buffalo on Monday night.
