Caps stop Jets in OT, 4-3

In Washington, DC, Pierre-Luc Dubois scored his 16th of the season to rescue the Winnipeg Jets from losing in regulation on Tuesday night.

Dubois’ third period goal tied the with the Capitals at 3-3, and forced extra time.

The Jets came away with the losers’ point as Tom Wilson hit for the winner in the extra session.

Vitek Vanecek made 30 saves in the Washington win.

“It hasn’t gone without attention. We’ve been working at it and looking at it and watching stuff. It’s nice to get one,” Washington head coach Peter Laviolette said. “It took a while. We shouldn’t be at the record that we’re at, but we are. I thought it was good to get one in the win column.”

The Capitals improved to 22-9-9.

The Jets took a 2-0 lead, but the Caps replied with goals from Alex Ovechkin, Dmitry Orlov, and Aliaksei Protas.

“I think we just woke up,” the Capitals’ Lars Eller said. “It was like we were not awake for the first five minutes, or whatever, and quickly down 2-0. And then we started getting emotion in the game, playing faster with intensity and attitude, and then slowly we started to turn it around after that.”

The Jets’ Kyle Connor and Cole Perfetti scored in the first period for the early two-goal advantage.

“I like the way we stayed with our game. I thought we had a great start, did a lot of things right,” Winnipeg coach Dave Lowry said. “But you look at the team that you’re playing, they’ve got a bunch of world-class all-stars on their team and they’re not going to go away.”

The Jets dropped to 17-12-6.

“I don’t actually know where I put it in the net. I kind of blanked and then it was all just a whirlwind,” Perfetti said. “I came back to the bench and actually looked at ‘Dubie’ and said ‘I can’t believe I just scored in the NHL.’ It was just kind of a surreal moment and it kind of hit me when I came to the bench. It was pretty special.”

Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves in the Winnipeg loss.

“Getting a point in a building like this against a good team is good, but when you go up 2-0 within five or six minutes and we’re playing well the first 10 of the first, you feel like you let it slip away,” Dubois said.