Capitals top Flames, end Brian Elliott's streak

WASHINGTON-- Alex Ovechkin had a goal and two assists for the Washington Capitals in a 4-2 win against the Calgary Flames at Verizon Center on Tuesday.
"You can see when we're on a roll and we play our game, it's fun to watch us, it's fun to be out there," said Ovechkin, who scored a power-play goal with 2:51 left in the third period to give Washington a 4-2 lead. He had a season-high 11 shots on goal and scored his 29th.

WATCH: All Flames vs. Capitals highlights
T.J. Oshie scored his 30th goal, Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and two assists, and Braden Holtby made 29 saves for Washington (47-17-8), which leads the Metropolitan Division, Eastern Conference and NHL by one point over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
"It feels great," Oshie said. "It's something that I always thought I could do in kind of increments. My first goal was 20, and I was flirting with it for a while there when I was a little bit younger, and it's pretty special for me to get to that point. I felt like I worked pretty hard for it, but at the same time, I've got some pretty good players around me, and without them, I don't think I'd get there. A lot of hats off to those guys."

Flames goalie Brian Elliott made 36 saves but had an 11-game winning streak end. Sean Monahan and Troy Brouwer scored for Calgary (41-28-4), which trails the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks by one point for second place in the Pacific Division.
"I think right from the get-go they just came at us," Elliott said. "I think they had a lot of good chances. They carried the puck across the line. It seemed like we were kind of just getting stuff from the outside and not really getting many good opportunities. It's disappointing to lose, but we'll get over it and move on to the next one."
Evgeny Kuznetsov scored on a broken play at 6:47 of the first period to give Washington a 1-0 lead, his 17th goal of the season. Monahan tied it 1-1 at 10:06 off a pass from Johnny Gaudreau. The goal was Monahan's 24th.
Oshie made it 2-1 at 15:51 of the second period. He has 10 goals in his past 14 games.
Backstrom scored a power-play goal with three seconds remaining in the period to give Washington a 3-1 lead. The goals was originally credited to Kevin Shattenkirk, which would have been his first with the Capitals since being traded by the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 27.
Brouwer scored his 11th at 15:04 of the third period to make it 3-2.

Goal of the game

Burakovsky picked off Gaudreau in the neutral zone and started a break to the Flames zone. Burakovsky caught up with Kuznetsov, who cut in on Elliott and scored with a backhand.

Save of the game

Holtby stopped Michael Frolik on a shorthanded breakaway in the second period to keep the score tied.

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Highlight of the game

Monahan took a pass from Gaudreau and shot top-shelf on Holtby.

They said it

"All three of them are working together. They're making plays. They don't spend a lot of time in their own zone. They're responsible defensively. They've got a real good hound mentality around the puck and keeping pucks alive, and when they keep pucks alive, they create offense." -- Capitals coach Barry Trotz on the line of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie

"I think you saw it last playoffs too. He was rolling. He was playing some really good hockey in the playoffs. I think [he's] one of our best players. He knows what time it is. He's a veteran guy now. He's poised to make a good run here and lead us through hopefully a deep postseason." -- Capitals forward T.J. Oshie on Alex Ovechkin
"I liked the way we were playing. At the end of the second or toward the end of the second (period), we gave up a goal with five or six seconds left. It kind of dampened the mood going into the third period here. But they're a good hockey team. They're a dangerous [power play] and we took [three penalties] tonight, and that's going to be too many to try to win a game against them." -- Flames forward Troy Brouwer

Need to know

Holtby played his 300th NHL game and is 186-71-31. Ken Dryden of the Montreal Canadiens is the only goalie in NHL history to have more wins (193) through his first 300 NHL games. … Elliott hadn't lost since Feb. 5, 4-3 to the New York Rangers. … Oshie, 30, scored 26 goals for Washington last season.

What's next

Flames: At the Nashville Predators on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; SNF, FS-TN, NHL.TV)
Capitals: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; FS-O, CSN-DC, NHL.TV)