ANAHEIM, Calif. - Alex Ovechkin scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period, and the Washington Capitals kept up their playoff push with a 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night.
Jaroslav Halak made 43 saves in his sixth consecutive start for the Capitals, who have won their past four games at Honda Center.
Joel Ward and Troy Brouwer also scored for the Capitals, who have won three straight to pull into an eighth-place tie with Columbus for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Ben Lovejoy and Mathieu Perreault scored for the Ducks, who have lost four straight home games while falling out of first place in the overall NHL standings.
Jonas Hiller stopped 27 shots, but Ovechkin scored his 46th goal early in a power play.
Ovechkin's goal was just the second in seven games for last season's NHL MVP, but the Capitals need every goal and victory possible on their three-game California road trip.
The Blue Jackets and Detroit, one point back in ninth place, both have two games in hand on Washington. Anaheim is still near the top of the Western Conference playoff race, but San Jose has caught the Ducks atop the Pacific Division standings.
The teams meet Thursday at the Shark Tank.
Stephane Robidas played more than 13 minutes in his debut for the Ducks, who acquired the veteran defenceman from Dallas two weeks ago for the playoff push.
Robidas filled in for Cam Fowler, who missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. Washington hadn't visited Honda Center since Feb. 16, 2011, nine months before the Capitals fired coach Bruce Boudreau, who was hired by Anaheim two days later.
Ward got his 21st goal on a fat rebound just 2:11 in, scoring in his third consecutive game. Lovejoy tied it 59 seconds later on an unobstructed slap shot set up by a terrible Washington line change.
Brouwer scored on a power play in the final seconds of the first period for the Caps, getting his third goal in two games off another rebound.
Anaheim generated nothing from a two-man advantage for 1:51 early in the second period, adding to the power-play woes of an otherwise powerful offensive club.
The Ducks entered the game in a 2-for-42 slump in their previous 13 games, and they went scoreless in their first four chances against Washington.
Perreault, the former Washington centre, put a wrist shot past Halak, who was thoroughly screened by Patrick Maroon, to tie it early in the third.
But just 1:12 later, Nicklas Backstrom won a faceoff and John Carlson got the puck to Ovechkin, who put a typically vicious one-timer past Hiller.
NOTES: Dustin Penner returned to Honda Center for the first time since Anaheim traded him to Washington on March 4. Penner had 13 goals and 19 assists in 49 games this season in his second stint with the Ducks, but was a frequent healthy scratch. ... Halak was in Anaheim with the Blues on Feb. 28 when he was traded to Buffalo, forcing him to leave Honda Center early while St. Louis faced the Ducks with a locker room attendant as their backup goalie. ... Boudreau won his first game against his former team when the Ducks beat the Capitals 3-2 on Dec. 23.
The post Ovechkin’s power-play goal in the 3rd period gives Capitals a 3-2 win over Ducks appeared first on Colorado Eagles.