Wilson gives Capitals OT win against Jets

WASHINGTON -- Tom Wilson scored 26 seconds into overtime to give the Washington Capitals a 4-3 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Capital One Arena on Tuesday.

Wilson scored on his rebound after Evgeny Kuznetsov slid the puck between his legs to evade a defender, circled behind the net and passed to Wilson in front.
"I was hoping he would just do it all himself, to be honest," Wilson said. "But I just tried to give him a lot of room and he made a nice move, and I knew he was going to try to look for me and tried to go to the net."
Alex Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 27th goal, and Vitek Vanecek made 30 saves for the Capitals (22-9-9), who rallied from two goals down early in the first period. It was their first overtime win in eight games this season.
"It hasn't gone without attention. We've been working at it and looking at it and watching stuff. It's nice to get one," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. "It took a while. We shouldn't be at the record that we're at, but we are. I thought it was good to get one in the win column."

Ovechkin, who has scored 55 points, passed Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers for the NHL lead in goals and points.
Cole Perfetti scored his first NHL goal, Kyle Connor and Pierre-Luc Dubois each had a goal and an assist, and Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves for the Jets (17-12-6), who were playing their second game in 12 days.
"I like the way we stayed with our game. I thought we had a great start, did a lot of things right," Winnipeg coach Dave Lowry said. "But you look at the team that you're playing, they've got a bunch of world-class all-stars on their team and they're not going to go away."

With Hellebuyck pulled for an extra skater, Dubois tied it 3-3 when he scored off a rebound of Adam Lowry's shot at 18:55 of the third period.
The Capitals took a 3-2 lead at 4:15 when a wraparound by Aliaksei Protas deflected off Jets defenseman Nate Schmidt and Hellebuyck.
Winnipeg took a 1-0 lead on a Connor's power-play goal at 1:02 of the first period. Andrew Copp's shot from the left circle caromed off the end boards to Connor in the right circle, and he scored before Vanecek could get over.
Perfetti, playing his fifth NHL game, made it 2-0 at 2:20 when he scored off a pass from Dubois on a 2-on-1.
"I don't actually know where I put it in the net. I kind of blanked and then it was all just a whirlwind," Perfetti said. "I came back to the bench and actually looked at 'Dubie' and said 'I can't believe I just scored in the NHL.' It was just kind of a surreal moment and it kind of hit me when I came to the bench. It was pretty special."

Garnet Hathaway got to a loose puck in the offensive zone and passed across the slot to Ovechkin, whose one-timer from the left circle pulled Washington within 2-1 at 16:58. It was Ovechkin's third straight game with a goal.
"I think we just woke up," Capitals forward Lars Eller said. "It was like we were not awake for the first five minutes, or whatever, and quickly down 2-0. And then we started getting emotion in the game, playing faster with intensity and attitude, and then slowly we started to turn it around after that."
Dmitry Orlov tied it 2-2 at 4:26 of the second period when he scored from the left point after Eller won a face-off.
"Getting a point in a building like this against a good team is good, but when you go up 2-0 within five or six minutes and we're playing well the first 10 of the first, you feel like you let it slip away," Dubois said.
NOTES:Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers left late in the third period with an apparent lower-body injury after a collision with Orlov. Winnipeg coach Dave Lowry said Ehlers will be evaluated Wednesday and is out for at least the next game, Thursday at the Nashville Predators. … Ovechkin scored his 1,375 point (757 goals, 618 assists) to pass Mike Modano for 24th in NHL history. … Ovechkin has scored five points (three goals, two assists) in a five-game point streak. … Kuznetsov has scored six points (one goal, five assists) in a five-game point streak. … Lowry won 10-of-16 face-offs (63.0 percent). … The Jets were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and are 24-for-28 (85.7 percent) in their past 10 games. … Winnipeg is 0-5-4 in its past nine games at Washington.