Ovechkin scores 908th goal as Capitals down Winnipeg Jets 4-3

The Winnipeg Jets are struggling.

Not too long after a rocky six-game road swing in which they picked up only a pair of wins, they began a five-game trip with a 4-3 loss to the Capitals in Washington, D.C. Wednesday night.

The home team got on the board first thanks to their red-hot blue line. After a misplayed pass by the Jets in the Washington zone, Tom Wilson broke up the ice with the puck. He skated into the Winnipeg end before dropping the puck to a trailing John Carlson, who blasted a shot past Eric Comrie to open the scoring at the 6:38 mark.

Later in the first, another Washington blueliner got on the scoreboard. Sonny Milano beat Gustav Nyquist to a loose puck and sent it back to the point where Jakob Chychrun whipped a perfect shot off the crossbar and in, making it the fourth straight game in which he scored a goal.

It looked like Washington would take the two-goal lead into the intermission but Winnipeg struck in the final seconds. After the Capitals won a faceoff in their own end, Carlson made a terrible play, passing the puck to Kyle Connor before he sent a quick pass in front that Gabriel Vilardi steered into the goal at the 19:38 mark.

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Winnipeg began the second period on the power play and took full advantage when Vilardi deftly redirected a shot that Josh Morrissey had intentionally sent wide of the goal. Officials briefly reviewed the goal to confirm that Vilardi’s stick was below the crossbar when it made contact with the puck, which it was, giving Vilardi his 100th career NHL goal.

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But just a few minutes later, the legendary Alex Ovechkin added another goal to his incredible career total, though this one would not be described as a beauty. After the Jets couldn’t quite clear the puck, it wound up along the boards where Ovechkin turned and fired a blind shot from distance that somehow knuckled its way through some traffic and past Comrie for his 908th NHL goal.

It stayed 3-2 heading to the third period as Washington outshot Winnipeg 15-7 in the middle frame. The two-period total in shots was 26-13 in the Capitals favour.

The Jets killed off a penalty to start the third but Connor McMichael made Winnipeg pay for a mistake at even strength at the 5:15 mark of the period.

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The Jets transitioned up the ice and into the Capitals end before Cole Perfetti tried to drop a pass back to the point for Elias Salomonsson, playing in his first NHL game. But the pass went into the rookie’s skates, he fell down, and McMichael was off to the races, skating in alone and putting a nice deke on Comrie before scoring to make it 4-2.

Winnipeg cut the lead back to one with just under five minutes to go in regulation. Mark Scheifele took a high stick to the face off a draw in the offensive end, dropping to the ice as no call was made. Scheifele eventually gathered himself as play continued, with Dylan DeMelo sending a shot on goal that hit a body and went right to Scheifele in front of the net. The Capitals seemed to have forgotten about him as he deposited the puck into the net for his 12th of the season.

Winnipeg pulled Comrie for an extra attacker with just under two minutes left but couldn’t find the equalizer as the final horn sounded on a third straight defeat.

Comrie turned aside 30 shots as the Jets have lost all three games now since the news came out that Connor Hellebuyck would be missing time for knee surgery. Charlie Lindgren only had to make 18 saves in the win as the Capitals outshot Winnipeg 34-21.

The Jets will look to snap out of their losing ways Friday in Carolina in a Black Friday matinee affair against the Hurricanes. The puck drops just after 4 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning at 2 p.m. on 680 CJOB.