NEW YORK (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his record-breaking 895th career goal, but the New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals 4-1 on Sunday.
Marc Gatcomb had two goals, Bo Horvat and Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored, and Kyle MacLean had two assists for the Islanders, who won their second straight after losing six in a row. Ilya Sorokin stopped 28 shots.
Charlie Lindgren finished with 18 saves for the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals, who lost for the fifth time in seven games (2-4-1).
Ovechkin pulled the Capitals to 2-1 as he scored on a one-timer 7 1/2 minutes into the second period, breaking a tie with Wayne Gretzky. The UBS Arena crowd — with a large contingent of Capitals fans — let out a large roar as Ovechkin took a few steps toward the blue line and dove on the ice with his teammates mobbing him.
Gatcomb got his second of the game to restore the Islanders’ two-goal lead with 9:34 remaining in the second.
Pageau made it 4-1 at 4:20 of the third with a goal awarded after a review showed Lindgren pushed the puck across the line after initially making the save on the in-close attempt.
Horvat gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead 7:06 into the game as he beat Lindgren from the right circle for his 26th of the season.
Gatcomb doubled the lead at 9:00 as he charged to the net and deflected MacLean’s centering pass past Lindgren.
Takeaways
Capitals: Washington remained one point behind West-leading Winnipeg in the Presidents’ Trophy race. Both teams have five games remaining.
Islanders: New York is seven points behind Montreal for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference with six games remaining after Montreal defeated Nashville on Sunday night.
Key moment
Just 26 seconds after the Capitals went on their first power play of the game in the second period, Ovechkin fired a one-timer from just above the left circle off a pass from Tom Wilson for No. 895.
Key stat
Ovechkin has 45 goals in 72 games against the Islanders, including four in six games at UBS Arena, which opened in 2021. Sorokin became the 183rd goalie Ovechkin has scored against.
Up next
Capitals host Carolina on Thursday night, and Islanders play at Nashville on Tuesday night.