ANAHEIM, California (AP) Corey Perry had two goals and an assist and Ryan Getzlaf added a goal and two assists as the Anaheim Ducks sent the NHL-leading Washington Capitals to their fourth consecutive loss, 5-2 on Sunday night.
Ryan Kesler also had a goal and two assists for the Ducks, who have won three of four to move ahead of the Calgary Flames for second place in the Pacific Division. Rickard Rakell scored his 29th goal, and Jonathan Bernier made 25 saves.
John Carlson and Marcus Johansson scored for the Capitals, who are on the longest skid of their outstanding season. Pittsburgh could pass Washington for the Metropolitan Division lead Monday in Calgary.
Alex Ovechkin failed to score a goal in his 10th straight game. That’s the longest drought of his 12-season, 907-game NHL career.
Perry and Getzlaf had outstanding performances after a pregame ceremony at Honda Center to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Ducks’ only Stanley Cup championship. Perry and Getzlaf were youngsters on that 2007 title team, while coach Randy Carlyle is back behind the Ducks’ bench.
Perry emerged from a difficult season by posting his second multi-goal game against the Capitals, while Kesler secured his ninth 20-goal season in the last 10 years, including all three of his seasons with the Ducks. Getzlaf has 10 points in his last six games.
All-Star Braden Holtby stopped 27 shots for the Capitals, who have lost four straight in regulation for the first time since November 2015. Holtby has yielded 12 goals while losing three straight starts.
Washington defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk served the first game of his two-game suspension for charging Los Angeles’ Kevin Gravel on Saturday night. Nate Schmidt played for just the second time since the Caps acquired Shattenkirk from St. Louis last month.
After a scoreless first period, Perry collected a turnover by Lars Eller and beat Holtby for his 13th goal. The 2011 NHL MVP scored again 4 1/2 minutes later, artfully tipping Kesler’s shot.
Rakell put the Ducks up 3-0 just 28 seconds later, beating Holtby for his seventh goal in eight games. The 23-year-old Swede is on the brink of the Ducks’ first 30-goal season since 2012 by anyone other than Perry or Ryan Getzlaf.
Rakell even has two more goals than Ovechkin, the NHL’s six-time Richard Trophy winner and its top goal-scorer in each of the past four seasons.
Rakell has played 10 fewer games than the Capitals’ Russian superstar, who hasn’t scored an even-strength goal in 18 games – another career worst in addition to his 10-game overall goal drought. Ovechkin had nine-game goal droughts in late 2008 and late 2010, but had never gone 10 games without a goal.
Before the game, the Ducks celebrated the 2007 champions with a gathering of the players who raised California’s first Stanley Cup, including captain Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger and Teemu Selanne. Along with Getzlaf and Perry, Carlyle returned this season as Anaheim’s coach.
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