Ovechkin gets No. 896 in Capitals loss to Blue Jackets

WASHINGTON -- Alex Ovechkin scored his 896th NHL goal, but the Columbus Blue Jackets stayed in Stanley Cup Playoff contention with a 4-1 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Sunday.

With the win, the Blue Jackets moved three points back of the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Columbus and Montreal each has two games remaining.

“I don’t know what you’d have to be to not know where we’re at, so everybody knows we have to win,” Columbus coach Dean Evason said. “So, we’re conducting ourselves like that. We’re playing hard every night, trying to get two points every night to get where we want to be, and that’s in the playoffs.”

Adam Fantilli scored twice, and Zach Werenski also scored for the Blue Jackets (38-33-9), who defeated the Capitals 7-0 at home on Saturday. Jet Greaves made 29 saves after recording his first NHL shutout on Saturday.

“We've seen it a number of times this year, and for him to come in here and do what he's doing right now this time in these important games, it's been unbelievable,” Werenski said of Greaves. “I think it's given our team a big boost. Hats off to him. He's played incredible and obviously played a lot of hockey the last couple days.”

Charlie Lindgren made 19 saves for the Capitals (50-21-9), who are 3-6-1 in their past 10 games and have already secured first place in the Metropolitan Division.

With the Washington loss, the Winnipeg Jets clinched the Presidents’ Trophy as the team with the best record at the end of the regular season.

“I think tonight was a little bit better. The compete was there,” Capitals forward Tom Wilson said. “A couple of mistakes that just end up in the back of our net. At this time of year, it’s such a thin line as to winning and losing. We’ve just got learn from this and know down the stretch in the playoffs it’s going to be those little things going our way that are going to be the important part.”

Ovechkin gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead 1:10 into the first period, scoring on a one-timer from the slot off a pass from Dylan Strome. It was his 43rd goal in 63 games this season.

After Ovechkin’s goal, Greaves stopped the Capitals’ final 29 shots.

“Sometimes the goals happen earlier than later, and it's just being able to handle every experience, and for me, just being able to control what I can control and doing what I can to help the team,” Greaves said.

Werenski tied it 1-1 at 14:36 when he scored on wrist shot from the point through traffic.

Fantilli gave the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead at 4:39 of the second period. Wilson failed to control a pass in Washington's zone, and Fantilli collected the loose puck and beat Lindgren from the slot.

“Games are determined by a couple of plays either way,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “We made two or three mistakes, ends up in the back of our net. They made a few mistakes, made a bunch, we just didn’t take advantage of them.”

Fantilli made it 3-1 at 1:57 of the third period, scoring over a sprawled Lindgren from the slot off a behind-the-back pass from Kent Johnson.

Dmitri Voronkov pushed it to 4-1 at 15:48. He broke up a pass from Strome in the neutral zone, chased down the puck and beat Lindgren short side.

“I think we played a solid two periods,” Ovechkin said. “We had plenty of chances, but I think on some nights you just can’t score. Lots of positive moments. We’ll take it and move on.”

NOTES: Fantilli became the fourth player in Blue Jackets history to record multigoal outings in consecutive days, joining Patrik Laine (Jan. 30-31, 2022), Scott Hartnell (Nov. 7-8, 2014) and R.J. Umberger (March 30-31, 2012). ... The Capitals have allowed at least three goals in 11 consecutive games. … Carbery said goalie Logan Thompson (upper-body injury ) skated today on his own, and that forward Aliaksei Protas (lower body) may start skating in the middle of this week.