Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images

The Washington Capitals beat the Vancouver Canucks by a score of 5-1 at Rogers Arena on Tuesday night to improve to 10-11-3 this season, sixth in the Metropolitan Division and 12th in the Eastern Conference. Washington has split the first two games of their season-long six-game road trip and has won three of their last four.

The Capitals are now three points outside of a wild-card spot with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who occupy that spot, owning a game in hand on Washington and the Detroit Red Wings, who are tied with Pittsburgh for the first one, having three. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 31 saves in the win.

Capitals’ Lines at Vancouver

Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Conor Sheary
Sonny Milano — Evgeny Kuznetsov — T.J. Oshie
Marcus Johansson — Lars Eller — Anthony Mantha
Aliaksei Protas — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Nick Jensen
Matt Irwin — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: LW Joe Snively, RW Nicolas Aube-Kubel, D Alexander Alexeyev

Injured: RW Connor Brown (ACL, missed 20th straight game, out indefinitely); D Dmitry Orlov (lower-body, 11th, day-to-day); LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 24th, indefinite); RW Tom Wilson (ACL, 24th, indefinite); C Nicklas Backstrom (hip, 24th, indefinite); LW Beck Malenstyn (finger, 13th, week-to-week)

No changes were made on forward nor defense from Washington’s 5-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.

Vancouver’s Lines

Nils Höglander — Bo Horvat — J.T. Miller
Jack Studnicka — Elias Pettersson — Andrei Kuzmenko
Conor Garland — Sheldon Dries — Brock Boeser
Dakota Joshua — Nils Åman — Curtis Lazar

Quinn Hughes — Luke Schenn
Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Ethan Bear
Kyle Burroughs — Tylers Myers

Spencer Martin
Thatcher Demko

Scratched: D Riley Stillman

Injured: D Travis Dermott (concussion, 23rd, indefinite); D Tucker Poolman (undisclosed, 20th, indefinite); LW Tanner Pearson (hand, ninth, week-to-week)

First Period

Scoring

5:35, 1-0 Washington: Ovechkin picked up a loose puck at the side of the net after Hughes tried to chip it ahead and Ovechkin whacked one under the blocker of Martin. It marked the 37-year-old’s 402nd career road goal, which tied Wayne Gretzky for the NHL record. The goal was his 135th career game-opening goal, tying him with Jaromir Jagr for the most in NHL history.

It also was his first career goal against Spencer Martin, the 165th different goaltender that Ovechkin has scored on in his career. Ovechkin passed Mark Messier (164) for the third-most goaltenders scored on in NHL history. Only Jagr (178) and Patrick Marleau (177) have scored on more goaltenders. Marleau ranks first in NHL history in games played and Jagr ranks fourth, while Ovechkin ranks 66th.

#ALLCAPS 1-0. OVECHKIN SCORES. 8 MORE TO 800 pic.twitter.com/om1ZkqM4Ta

— Capitals Replays (@capsreplays) November 30, 2022

11:52, 2-0: Ovechkin blasted one from the sidewall on the rush after Strome laid the puck on a tee for him at the top and the shot squeaked under the blocker of Martin. Tuesday’s game marked Ovechkin’s second multi-goal game this season (also in Washington’s 6-4 win over Vancouver on October 17) and the 160th multi-goal game of his career. Only Wayne Gretzky (189) has more multi-goal games in NHL history.

#ALLCAPS 2-0. OVECHKIN SCORES AGAIN. 7 MORE TO 800. HE NOW HAS THE MOST ROAD GOALS IN NHL HISTORY pic.twitter.com/nX40cvHpBE

— Capitals Replays (@capsreplays) November 30, 2022

13:55, 2-1: Hoglander camped out in front of the net, took the puck wide, and backhanded one past the right pad of Kuemper after Carlson turned it over to Miller along the half-wall and Miller fed him.

DO YOUR THING 21, DO YOUR THING! pic.twitter.com/hwxjs5a53X

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) November 30, 2022

14:35: 3-1: Eller hit Pettersson while hunting the puck down in the corner, got it, and fed it to Johansson at the left side of the boards. Johansson passed it to Mantha, who was all alone in front and wristed one top shelf to the blocker-side. The 27-year-old snapped a seven-game scoring drought. With the secondary helper, Eller notched 200th career assist and his 200th career point with Washington.

#ALLCAPS 3-1. MANTHA SCORES pic.twitter.com/xfkifvoOfd

— Capitals Replays (@capsreplays) November 30, 2022

Shots: 15-10 Washington

Other Notable Stats: Each team earned eight hits while Washington was credited with the lone giveaway of the period.

Second Period

Scoring

18:47, 4-1: Carlson pinched down low, beat Bear to the puck with his stick, and roofed one to the top corner to finish off a rotation with Dowd and Hathaway.

#ALLCAPS 4-1. carlson scores ; (. pic.twitter.com/atpsYaiLxJ

— Capitals Replays (@capsreplays) November 30, 2022

Shots: 22-21 (12-6 Vancouver in second)

Other Notable Stats: Each team threw 11 hits while Vancouver was held off on two power play opportunities.

Third Period

Scoring

15:57, 5-1 (empty-net goal): After Dowd broke up a pass from Miller and fed Fehervary, he fired a shot from the left dot in his own end for his first goal of the season.

Shots: 32-28 Vancouver (10-7 in the third)

Other Notable Stats: Vancouver led 18-13 in hits but Washington led 12-11 in blocked shots and had one giveaway while Vancouver earned four. Vancouver was held scoreless on three power plays.

Next game: Thursday at Seattle Kraken (10 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market)

By Harrison Brown