WASHINGTON (AP) — Radek Faksa scored a shorthanded goal, Casey DeSmith made 23 saves and the Dallas Stars beat the Washington Capitals 4-1 on Wednesday night, snapping a six-game losing streak.
The Stars bounced back from their first win since Dec. 21 after a 6-3 rout of Carolina 24 hours earlier that included the Hurricanes chasing U.S. Olympic goaltender Jake Oettinger.
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Faksa gave Dallas a 1-0 lead just over three minutes into the game when Ilya Lyubushkin held the puck in the zone and profited from a rebound off Washington netminder Logan Thompson. Early in the second period, Canadian Olympic defender Thomas Harley received a pass and helped Sam Steel break through Thompson’s net.
With 6:29 left in the game, Steele assisted Wyatt Johnston for his 24th goal of the season. Roope Hintz scored the empty-net goal with 18.6 seconds left.
Before that, Alex Ovechkin scored his 915th career goal to break his NHL goal total record, and Thompson sent out another attacker with 2:19 left. This is the 40-year-old Ovechkin’s 18th goal this season.
Thompson, who was also named to Team Canada for the upcoming Olympics in Milan, allowed three goals on 36 shots. Washington forwards Tom Wilson and Aliakse Protas were uninjured.
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The Capitals, who defeated Anaheim 7-4 on Monday night, have lost three of four and six of their past nine games.
Next
Stars: Visit the San Jose Sharks on Saturday to begin four Western Conference games, three in California and the last in Utah.
Capitals: Visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
