CALGARY, Alberta (AP) Washington defenseman John Carlson scored twice to help the Capitals beat the Calgary Flames 5-3 on Tuesday night.
Alex Ovechkin had a goal and an assist and Tom Wilson also scored for Washington. Chandler Stephenson got credit for an own goal by the Flames. Braden Holtby had 32 saves in the Capitals’ fourth straight win.
Carlson leads the NHL with 20 points (five goals, 15 assists).
Elias Lindholm, Tobias Rieder and Austin Czarnik scored for the Flames. Cam Talbot stopped 25 shots in his second straight start.
Wilson pushed Washington’s lead to 4-2 on a feed from Lars Eller to beat Talbot under his left pad with 7:26 left in the third period. Carlson’s empty-netter with 1:45 remaining maid it a three-goal game before Rieder capped the scoring with 16 seconds to go.
Ten seconds after Czarnik pulled the Flames even at 2-2 in the second, Ovechkin quieted the Saddledome with a go-ahead goal with 3:25 left in the period.
The Capitals’ captain took a backhand pass from Nicklas Backstrom on a 2-on-1 and wired the puck home for his seventh of the season.
Czarnik scored his first by pouncing on a loose puck and sweeping it past Holtby during a goal-mouth scramble for a T.J. Brodie rebound.
Talbot mishandled Carlson’s off-speed shot from the boards for Washington’s first goal of the game 35 seconds into the second period. Stephenson’s centering pass from behind Calgary’s net deflected off Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson and in at 2:41 to make it 2-0.
Lindholm halved the deficit with a power-play goal at 3:19, his team-high sixth goal. The Swede wristed a cross-ice feed from Johnny Gaudreau over Holtby’s glove.
Calgary outshot the Caps 15-9 in a scoreless first period.
NOTES: Carlson is five points back of Kevin Hatcher (426) for the third-most points by a Capitals defenseman in franchise history. … Ovechkin is four goals from passing Luc Robitaille (668) for 12th in all-time NHL scoring. … Flames forward Sam Bennett was scratched a second straight game with an undisclosed injury.
UP NEXT
Capitals: At Edmonton on Thursday night.
Flames: Host Florida on Thursday night.
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