Dowd scores twice in Capitals win against Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- Nic Dowd scored twice for the Washington Capitals in a 4-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday.

Dylan Strome and Anthony Mantha scored for the Capitals (14-8-3), who won the second of a back-to-back following a 4-0 victory against the New York Rangers on Saturday. Beck Malenstyn had two assists, and Darcy Kuemper made 32 saves.

Washington improved to 4-0-0 in the second game of a back-to-back this season.

“These are tough games, right?” Dowd said. “Travel [Saturday] night, long bus ride. I think we just have a veteran team, and guys understand how the game needs to be played. And we have great goaltenders.”

Philipp Kurashev and Connor Murphy scored for the Blackhawks (9-17-1), who had won two straight for the first time this season following a 3-1 victory against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. Connor Bedard had two assists, and Arvid Soderblom made 23 saves.

“I thought it was two tired teams playing,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “We got that first goal and then we just got off a little bit of the game plan, and we really weren’t on it in the first period. But I think they found it, just too many line rushes against that are outnumbered.

“I thought we did some good things in the O-zone, but we just gave them a little bit of opportunity to find some legs and life there. Unfortunately, they got a couple of bounces, and then we were chasing it the rest of the way.”

Kurashev gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 6:49 of the second period after Seth Jones skated to the goal line and passed the puck to the front of the net, where Kurashev tapped it in.

Mantha tied it 1-1 at 8:11 when he took a pass from Connor McMichael at the blue line, skated through the slot and scored with a backhand.

Strome gave Washington a 2-1 lead at 13:50. He scored from in front after T.J. Oshie hit Chicago defenseman Alex Vlasic behind the net to free the puck for Alex Ovechkin, who passed to Joel Edmundson before Strome was found for a tap-in.

“That’s just what ‘Osh’ brings to the table,” Strome said. “He can do so many different things night in and night out. He’s unbelievable at being an unreal team guy, good on the power play and kind of chips in wherever he needs to, with anything, really. He scores goals, sets up plays, and obviously makes big hits.”

Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said Oshie’s hit was a big lift for the team.

“One-hundred percent,” he said. “Tons of energy on our bench from a play like that. It creates the goal, but just the physicality part of it. The added part of it is it’s a skilled guy who can score, who does things like that, finishes a check that gets everybody excited. On a back-to-back Sunday where you’re looking for spark, that’s one of them right there.”

Dowd extended it to 3-1 at 15:23, sweeping in a rebound while lying on the ice following a collision.

“Honestly, it’s so hard to score from in tight like that,” Dowd said. “Teams play really good defense. It’s tough to get a shot off in today’s game. A lot of the goals are scored down there. I think you saw that tonight.”

Dowd then pushed it to 4-1 at 15:58 of the third period with a shot from the slot.

Murphy scored a power-play goal off a backhand saucer pass from Bedard at 18:18 for the 4-2 final.

“We need points. We need wins,” Chicago forward Nick Foligno said. “I will say I thought we had more of our sustained game in this homestand (2-1-1), so that was good to see. Our identity came out a lot more, so that's a step in the right direction. But again, you want to get greedy in these [games] and get this win, too, and really feel good about yourself going on the road.

“But it's good for us. It's a step in the right direction. Still a long ways to go.”

NOTES: Kuemper is 7-0-0 is his past seven games against the Blackhawks dating to March 26, 2019. … Chicago forward Ryan Donato missed his second straight game because of an illness. He is expected to be on the road trip to Edmonton and Seattle, which begins Tuesday.