WASHINGTON — Tom Wilson, Andre Burakovsky and Michal Kempny scored to give Washington an early lead, and the Capitals held on to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 on Wednesday night.
Devante Smith-Pelly also scored for Washington, which won its third straight. The Caps’ previous two victories came in overtime. Braden Holtby stopped 37 shots for the Capitals.
Brandon Saad, Erik Gustafsson scored for Chicago.
Wilson, playing in just his fifth game after sitting out the first 16 because of a suspension, scored his second goal of the season just 54 seconds in after upending Chicago goalie Corey Crawford.
Burakovsky scored his third goal of the season at 6:36, and Kempny, playing against his former team, added his first goal of the season midway in the second period to give Washington a 3-0 lead.
Saad scored in his third straight game at 11:37 of the second period, and Gustafsson scored his second goal of the season, and first since Oct. 18, at 5:23 of the third period to cut Washington’s lead to 3-2.
Smith-Pelly scored his fourth goal at 7:12 in the third against Crawford, who finished with 25 saves. Crawford had allowed just two goals in his previous two games for Chicago, began a stretch of seven road games in its next nine contests.
NOTES: Washington forwards Evegeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie were out with upper body injuries for the third straight game. . Forwards Luke Johnson, Chris Kunitz and D Brandon Manning were all healthy scratches for Chicago for the second straight game. . Capitals F Oveckhin was penalized for slashing in the second period, just his fourth penalty in 21 games. … Washington F Jakub Vrana had two assists, Oveckhin had one.
UP NEXT:
Blackhawks: Visit Tampa Bay in the second game of a three-game road trip on Friday.
Capitals: Host Detroit on Friday afternoon.
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Rich Dubroff, The Associated Press
