Less than six minutes later, the Caps went on the game's first power play, and Ovechkin struck again, notching career goal number 799 with five seconds remaining on the Washington man advantage. Again, he merely took a whack at a loose puck at the top of the paint, and he didn't even get all of it, but it hopped in over the sticks of Jack Johnson and Jake McCabe, giving the Caps a 2-0 lead at 8:14 of the first period.
At that juncture of the contest, the Caps owned a 2-0 lead and a 9-1 advantage in shots on net. But to their credit, the Hawks didn't fold up and go away. Chicago had the better of possession and territory over the remainder of the first frame, outshooting Washington 8-1 the rest of the way and cutting the Caps' lead in half with exactly a minute remaining.
Caps defenseman Matt Irwin and goaltender Charlie Lindgren got tangled up in front of the Washington net, with both tumbling to the ice just as the puck was rolling toward the slot for Hawks forward Tyler Johnson. He didn't miss the open net, making it a 2-1 game at first intermission.
Early in the second, Ovechkin cruised down the left side and fired, but it was blocked by Chicago defender Seth Jones. The puck then kicked out to Trevor van Riemsdyk, who happily bit the hand that once fed him, scoring his second goal in as many games to restore the Caps' two goal lead at 4:56, and doing so against his former employer.
With Chicago on a power play in the middle of the middle frame, Lindgren made a trio of saves only to be beaten on a rebound of the third one. Hawks captain Jonathan Toews scored that rebound tally at 11:38 of the period, cutting the Washington lead to a single goal.
Late in the period, Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Garnet Hathaway missed connecting on a 2-on- none jailbreak, but late-arriving linemate Nic Dowd scooped up the loose change and ripped it home from the slot to make it 4-2 with 2:18 remaining in the second.
Ovechkin's third goal made it 5-2 early in the third, but the Caps kept at it and Mantha completed a strong game with a beauty of a rush goal at 8:59 of the third. He took a head man feed from Nick Jensen and put a wicked wrist shot behind Mrazek from the top of the left circle, extending Washington's lead to 6-2.