Photo by Chris Tanouye/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals defeated the Ottawa Senators by a score of 3-2 in overtime at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday to jump two points ahead of the New York Islanders, who have a game in hand, for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Washington, who has won three straight (the past two coming in overtime), is 8-1-0 since December 5 and 11-3-1 since November 23. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves in the victory, his first game since taking an elbow to the head from right-wing Tyler Toffoli against the Calgary Flames on December 3.

Capitals’ Lines at Ottawa

Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Conor Sheary
Sonny Milano — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Anthony Mantha
Marcus Johansson — Lars Eller — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Aliaksei Protas — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson — John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov — Nick Jensen
Matt Irwin — Trevor van Riemsdyk

Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: LW Joe Snively, Alex Alexeyev

Injured: RW Connor Brown (ACL, missed 31st straight game, out indefinitely); LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 35th, indefinite); RW Tom Wilson (ACL, 35th, indefinite); C Nicklas Backstrom (hip, 35th, indefinite); LW Beck Malenstyn (finger, 24th, week-to-week); D Martin Fehervary (lower-body, ninth, day-to-day); RW T.J. Oshie (upper-body, second, day-to-day)

Ottawa’s Lines

Brady Tkachuk — Tim Stutzle — Claude Giroux
Alex DeBrincat — Shane Pinto — Drake Batherson
Tyler Motte — Mark Kastelic — Austin Watson
Parker Kelly — Rourke Chartier — Dylan Gambrell

Thomas Chabot — Nikita Zaitsev
Jake Sanderson — Travis Hamonic
Dillon Heatherington — Nick Holden

Cam Talbot
Anton Forsberg

Scratched: D Erik Brannstrom, C Derick Brassard

Injured: C Josh Norris (shoulder, 28th, indefinite); D Jacob Bernard-Docker (high-ankle sprain, 16th, indefinite); D Artem Zub (jaw, ninth, week-to-week); RW Mathieu Joseph (lower-body, seventh, day-to-day)

First Period

Scoring

4:50, 1-0 Ottawa: DeBrincat tipped Holden’s point shot over the glove of Kuemper after Pinto retrieved it out of a battle along the halfwall and gave it to Holden.

Alex DeBrincat with the unreal hand-eye 😼 pic.twitter.com/XsevWHi1a5

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 23, 2022

7:01, 1-1 (PPG): Kuznetsov hesitated after getting a cross-ice feed from Ovechkin, deked, and put the puck past the blocker of Talbot by the left post from the right dot. Seven (five assists) of Carlson’s 21 points (13 assists) this season have come on the power play. Kuznetsov, who has seen four of his five goals this season occur on the man advantage, has recorded 10 points (two goals) in his last 10 games.

Kuznetsov SCOARRRRR pic.twitter.com/bqbNjEOFy6

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 23, 2022

Shots: 12-5 Washington

Other Notable Stats: Each team earned two power plays with Washington (one goal) the only team able to take advantage. Ottawa led 8-6 in hits and had four giveaways while Washington was on the board for five. No takeaways were tallied.

Second Period

Scoring

5:25, 2-1 Washington: Ovechkin blasted a one-timer off of Orlov’s feed from up top and Talbot stopped the shot before the puck squeaked through his legs. Milano was standing at the doorstep to bury it just seconds after a power play expired. Orlov has recorded five points (two goals) in his last six games. With his second assist of the night, Ovechkin tallied his 11th multi-point game of the season and the 408th of his career, tying him with Paul Coffey for the 12th most in NHL history. Since making his Capitals debut on Nov. 5 vs. the  Arizona Coyotes, Milano has recorded 15 points (11 assists) in 22 games, which ranks tied for fourth on the team in that span.

Sonny at the doorstep! pic.twitter.com/hdcfgzBgLx

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 23, 2022

With 2:48 left, Van Riemsdyk took a slapshot from Holden to the face in front of the net and left.

Shots: 27-12 Washington (15-7 in second)

Cam Talbot 👀 pic.twitter.com/0KI49HSfKz

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 23, 2022

Other Notable Stats: Ottawa won 60% of the faceoffs and led 25-11 in hits in addition to 3-0 in takeaways. Washington had three power plays, led 16-9 in blocked shots, and posted eight giveaways while Ottawa was on the hook for 10.

Third Period

Scoring

3:04, 2-2 (PPG): Batherson squeaked a shot through the five-hole to finish off a passing cycle around the offensive zone after Tkachuk set him up from the right goal-line.

Drake Batherson extends his point streak to 10 games! #GoSensGo

Tkachuk and Stützle assist. pic.twitter.com/D4fX83P05N

— Everyday Sens (@EverydaySens) December 23, 2022

Ovechkin broke the NHL record with his 6,210th career shot on goal. Ovechkin has averaged 4.74 shots per game in his career, while Ray Bourque, who previously held the record, averaged 3.85 (6,209 shots in 1,612 career games). Since entering the NHL in 2005-06, Ovechkin leads the league in shots, holding a 2,398-shot lead over the next-closest player (Florida Panthers center Eric Staal: 3,813 shots).

Van Riemsdyk cleared a trickling puck in the crease behind Kuemper with less than five minutes left.

G̶o̶a̶l̶t̶e̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ Defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk with the game-saving stop pic.twitter.com/xTb9erzULw

— Matt Weyrich (@ByMattWeyrich) December 23, 2022

Shots: 38-24 Washington (12-11 Ottawa in third)

Other Notable Stats: Washington led 25-16 in blocked shots and had 12 giveaways while Ottawa put up 14. Ottawa, who had six power plays, led 30-14 in hits, 8-1 in takeaways, and won 56% of the faceoffs.

goodness dima pic.twitter.com/psfxFVR5dZ

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 23, 2022

Overtime

Scoring

2:04, 3-2 Washington: Johansson picked up the puck off of a pass from Gustafsson at center, skated in, and wristed one to the left post by Talbot from the right dot.

TURNING ON THE JETS FOR THE WIN 💨

Marcus Johansson uses his speed to break into the Sens zone and rips home the @SUBWAYCanada OT winner for the Caps! pic.twitter.com/DJRWvDx8F6

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 23, 2022

Shots: 40-25 Washington (2-1 in OT)

Next game: Friday vs. Winnipeg Jets (7 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market)

By Harrison Brown