Capitals break through in 3rd period to blank Jets

Alex Ovechkin scored twice to help the Washington Capitals to a 3-0 win against the visiting Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.

T.J. Oshie had two assists and Charlie Lindgren made 27 saves for the Capitals (35-26-9, 79 points), who moved into the second wild card from the Eastern Conference.

Connor Hellebuyck, who started after being pulled against the New York Islanders on Saturday, made 16 saves for the Jets (44-22-5, 93 points), who have lost three in a row after winning four of five.

After a quiet first period for both teams, Washington had a chance early in the second on a one-timer by Dylan Strome from the slot off a feed from Rasmus Sandin, but his attempt went wide.

From there, Winnipeg took control, putting pressure on and creating opportunities while outshooting the Capitals 11-3.

Sean Monahan snapped a shot off the right post on a 2-on-1 just over five minutes into the period. Less than a minute later, Tyler Toffoli was denied by Lindgren's left pad on a shot from the slot.

Lindgren continued to keep the Capitals in it as the period progressed, denying Kyle Connor on a slap shot from the right circle and getting his glove out to snare a Mark Scheifele attempt from the left circle.

He got across the crease midway through the frame to deny Connor's snap shot from the right face-off dot. He quickly smothered a loose puck with Toffoli on the doorstep with five and a half minutes to go and a few minutes later delivered a short poke check as Nino Niederreiter tried to deke in front.

John Carlson finally broke through to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead on the power play at 1:21 of the third period. With time ticking down on the man advantage, Carlson tapped his stick to call for the puck from Max Pacioretty and one-timed it from the high slot.

Ovechkin made it 2-0 at 3:36. Connor McMichael won the face-off and Ovechkin got to the loose puck for a shot that hit the stick of Jets defenseman Nate Schmidt before trickling through Hellebuyck.

Ovechkin cut to the front of the net and slipped a backhand stick side past Hellebuyck to extend it to 3-0 at 12:00.