Evgeny Kuznetsov scored a goal and had two assists and Dmitry Orlov broke a tie late in the second period with this third goal in as many games to lift the Washington Capitals to a 5-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday night.
Orlov’s slap shot with 3:38 left in the second period beat Winnipeg goalie Michael Hutchinson and snapped a 3-3 tie.
Kuznetsov earned the lead assist on that play and added an insurance goal in the third period.
Washington has won eight of its last nine games against Winnipeg.
Both of Orlov’s tie-breaking goals in the last two games were on left-handed slap-shots.
Justin Williams, Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom also scored for Washington (15-5-1).
Tyler Myers, Andrew Ladd and Mathieu Perreault scored for Winnipeg (10-11-2).
John Carlson added two assists for the Capitals for his third multi-assist game this season.
The Capitals created a number of scoring chances in the first period and held a 15-6 edge in shots but the score was tied at 2-2 after one period.
Williams scored just 1:12 into the game for a 1-0 Washington lead. Myers and Ladd answered with consecutive Winnipeg goals before Ovechkin tied it on a power play with 1:14 left.
Backstrom and Mathieu then traded second-period goals. Perreault, who once played for the Capitals, tied the score for Winnipeg at 3-3 on the power play thanks to Blake Wheeler’s screen of goalie Braden Holtby, who had 23 saves.
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