Ovechkin scored at 8:55 of the second period on a redirection of Dmitry Orlov's shot from the point to give Washington a 3-1 lead. It was Ovechkin's NHL-leading 11th goal of the season; he needs to score 37 goals this season to pass
Jaromir Jagr
(766) for third in NHL history, behind
Gordie Howe
(801) and
Wayne Gretzky
, who is first with 894.
"I just take it day by day," Ovechkin said. "You know it's nice to be in that company. It's pretty big numbers, so just move on. Obviously it's nice to be tied, but I still have a couple games left."
Tom Wilson scored twice, and Evgeny Kuznetsov had three assists for the Capitals (6-2-4), who had lost three in a row (0-2-1). Vitek Vaneck made 25 saves.
Dustin Tokarski made 25 saves for the Sabres (5-5-2), who have lost five straight games (0-4-1).
"I liked the fight all the way through to the end. We have to compete," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "I think there were opportunities in the game that were created and generated and it's the way we need to play. We need to play aggressive."
Washington took a 1-0 lead at 2:13 of the first period when Trevor van Riemsdyk's shot from the point was deflected by Ovechkin and then Wilson before going past Tokarski.
Connor McMichael made it 2-0 when his shot from the left circle deflected off Sabres defenseman Christian Wolanin at 2:31 of the second period.
