Copley, Capitals hold off Jets for seventh win in row

WASHINGTON --Pheonix Copley made 33 saves, and the Washington Capitals won their seventh straight game, 3-1 against the Winnipeg Jets at Capital One Arena on Sunday.

Nicklas Backstrom, Carl Hagelin and Lars Eller scored for Washington (41-21-7), which tied its longest winning streak of the season and moved four points ahead of the New York Islanders for first place in the Metropolitan Division.
"I think the last couple starts I had didn't go as well as I wanted even though they were wins, so I just kind of got to work with goaltending coach Scott Murray] and kind of ironed out some kinks," said Copley, who was making his first start since Feb. 24. "Thankfully, it went well today."
***[WATCH: [All Jets vs. Capitals highlights]*
Mathieu Perreault scored, and Connor Hellebuyck made 15 saves for Winnipeg (40-24-4), which went 2-2-0 on a four-game road trip and is one point ahead of the Nashville Predators for first place in the Central Division.
"We played a heck of a road game here," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "You don't like losing when you play well. Their guy made some good saves, they got some good breaks around the net, but our compete was good."
Backstrom scored on a wrist shot from the high slot at 4:35 of the first period to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead.
Perreault tied it 1-1 at 6:23. After passing to Jack Roslovic in front, Perreault skated around the back of the net to the right post, where he took a return pass from Roslovic and scored into an open net. It was Perreault's first goal in 15 games.

Hagelin scored to make it 2-1 at 14:32 of the second period, receiving a lofted pass from Nic Dowd upon exiting the penalty box and beating Hellebuyck five-hole on a breakaway.
"I think you always have a dream that it might land on your stick, and today was one of those days," Hagelin said. "I was going to come in and help our team defensively, and then [Dowd] got the puck, so I might as well take off and try to go for the breakaway and he threw me a nice alley-oop."
Winnipeg outshot Washington 26-13 in the final two periods.
"Spent most of the game down there, on the power play a lot, we just couldn't finish," Jets captain Blake Wheeler said.
Winnipeg appeared to tie it at 9:43 of the third period, but the referee ruled no goal because of goaltender interference on Bryan Little. Maurice challenged the play, but the call was upheld after a video review.
"I saw a loose puck kind of between his legs and I didn't hear a whistle, so I was going for it," Little said.
Eller added an empty-net goal with 22 seconds remaining to extend the lead to 3-1.

Winnipeg finished the game 0-for-5 on the power play.
"Things didn't go our way like the first 50, 60 games but I feel like everyone is more committed now and we're blocking shots and we're working for each other," Backstrom said of the penalty kill, which entered the game 22nd in the NHL at 79.2 percent. "I think we're a little more aggressive, too, which sometimes makes it harder for the power play."

They said it

"We had five opportunities to score on the power play. That doesn't go. That hurts you. But they didn't score on theirs (0-for-2), so that part of the game was even. I liked our kills against a good power play. I liked our game." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice
"This has been a good run for us, and it doesn't get any easier this week with going on the road against some difficult opponents." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden

Need to know

Hellebuyck played his 200th game in the NHL. … Wheeler had his eight-game point streak end. … John Carlson had an assist, becoming the third defenseman in Washington history to have at least 50 assists in consecutive seasons (Scott Stevens, 1986-89; Larry Murphy, 1986-88). … Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin was held without a point for the second straight game and remains one shy of 1,200 in the NHL.

What's next

Jets: Host the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TSN3, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)
Capitals:At the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, ATTSN-PT, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)