In Washington, DC, the Dallas Stars held off the Capitals on Sunday for a 3-2 win.
Roope Hintz hit for two power play goals in the Stars win.
Jake Oettinger made 36 saves in the Dallas win.
“We all knew how important this game was for us,” Oettinger said. “We’ve got to keep plugging away. … To come into this building, obviously, they’ve been playing really well, so to get a win is huge.”
Alex Ovechkin scored for the Caps, his 40th of the season.
“He’s been consistent from start to finish with his game. Pretty incredible accomplishment,” Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. “But for me, it’s been a consistent thing we’ve seen from training camp right from the start of the season right through now.”
The Stars improved to 34-24-3.
“At first I was thinking tip it on the side there,” Dallas’ Joe Pavelski said. “Then ‘Segs’ makes a little sauce play and their guy’s pressuring me. I see Roope coming down and tried to get it to an area for him.”
Alexander Radulov scored in the first period to give Dallas a 1-0 lead.
Hintz scored his two goals to help Dallas take a 3-1 lead.
The Capitals dropped to 35-19-10.
“The second period, I thought we started to come a little bit. We’re playing a desperate team,” Laviolette said. “The third period I thought we pushed, but you can’t give up two-goal leads and expect to come back and win every game once you do that.”
Dmitry Orlov struck for a goal in the third period to get the Caps within 3-2.
“I think we should not play like that because they come from back-to-back [games],” Orlov said. “I think we [were the] fresher team and we should put more pressure on them and play more in offensive zone.”
Vitek Vanecek made 20 saves in the Washington loss.
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