Ovechkin scores 875th career goal, Capitals shut out Kraken

SEATTLE -- Alex Ovechkin scored his 875th career goal and 22nd of the season, and the Washington Capitals pushed their win streak to six games with a 3-0 shutout victory at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday.

“I thought that was one of the better games that we've played in a long, long time, start to finish, in every phase,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said.

With his empty-net goal at 16:32 of the third period that made it a 3-0 final, Ovechkin moved within 20 goals of passing Wayne Gretzky (894) for the NHL record.

“They don’t ask ‘How?’ they ask ‘How many?’” Washington forward Aliaksei Protas said with a smile. “You’ve got to score that goal from the defensive zone. With all the accomplishments that he has, he fully deserved that.”

“That was a tougher empty-netter,” Carbery said. “I know everybody will say, ‘empty-netter,’ but that was a little bit tougher. But good for him to seal it.”

Protas and Ethen Frank scored for the Capitals (33-10-5), who have points in 12 straight games (9-0-3). Charlie Lindgren stopped all 22 Seattle shots for his first shutout of the season.

“I felt really good,” said Lindgren, who was making his first start since returning from an upper-body injury sustained in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 10. “It sucks being out. I can’t even describe how much it... even though it was only two weeks, just getting back in there with the guys and being in the room again, I can’t overstate how much I love this team.”

Joey Daccord had 30 saves for the Kraken (21-25-3), who had won their previous two.

“They’re No. 1 in the League for a reason,” Daccord said. “They played really well tonight. They made it really hard for us to get to their net, and credit to their goalie as well. He played well.”

“That was a game against a good team, and we weren’t able to abate their pressure enough to be able to get to our pressure,” Seattle coach Dan Bylsma said. “It was a tough-sledding game, for sure.”

The Capitals broke through to make it 1-0 at 4:36 of the second period when Protas slapped at a loose puck at the bottom of the left circle. It ricocheted off defenseman Vince Dunn’s stick and hit Daccord in the chest, but Daccord inadvertently batted it into his own net with his glove. The goal was Protas’ 20th of the season, a career high (previous high, six goals in 2023-24).

“Sometimes you get lucky a bit in those situations,” Protas said. “But for sure, I will take it. You’ve got to stay consistent. [20 goals] doesn’t mean anything right now. You’ve got to keep working. It’s going to be a long season, and I want to prove it’s not just luck or something.”

Frank pushed it to 2-0 at 18:05 of the second period, stripping Seattle forward Kaapo Kakko at the Washington blue line, then sprinting in on a breakaway. Daccord stopped his snap shot with his left pad, but Frank got his own rebound and scored under the goalie’s glove.

“That’s a huge goal for Frankie to stay with that puck after [Daccord] makes the initial save,” Carbery said. “[Frank] stays with it to get us up and to go into the break 2-0, I think was a big moment in the game for us to just have a little bit of comfort and then be able to carry that momentum over into the third.”

NOTES: The Capitals extended the NHL’s longest point streak this season to 12 games (9-0-3). Washington has posted only two longer runs in the past decade (14 games in 2016-17 and 13 games in 2019-20). … Ovechkin is on pace to score No. 895 on April 10 versus Carolina. … Seattle forward Chandler Stephenson did not play the third period. Bylsma said he was still being evaluated after the game and did not have an update on his status.