Dubois scores twice, Capitals hold off Golden Knights

WASHINGTON -- Pierre-Luc Dubois scored two goals in a 2:34 span early in the second period, and the Washington Capitals held on for a 3-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at Capital One Arena on Friday.

Dubois, who also had an assist, has three goals in three games since his return after missing 47 games because of surgery he had to address injuries to his abdominal and adductor muscles.

“I feel like ‘Duby’ is one of those guys with a 200-foot game,” said linemate Aliaksei Protas, who had the primary assist on both goals. “He’s really playing hard at both ends of the ice. He’s really smart.”

Jakob Chychrun also scored for the Capitals (31-23-7) who have won three straight and six of seven. Rasmus Sandin had two assists, and Logan Thompson made 24 saves.

“That’s probably the best third-period team in the League,” Thompson said. “We knew they were going to come out ... a lot of really high-end talented players on that team. We weathered the storm and again, just happy to hold on there at the end, and it’s huge confidence for this group. Every point matters right now.”

Braeden Bowman and Tomas Hertl scored in the third period for the Golden Knights (28-17-14), who had won three straight. Akira Schmid made 27 saves.

“Well, we weren't ready to play,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Listen, I've said it, the coach has to prepare your team to play, but like this one, the players weren't ready to play. They're professionals. They've got to be ready to go, and we weren't nearly good enough.”

Dubois gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead 49 seconds into the second period. Protas passed the puck back to Dubois on the rush, and his snap shot from the top of the right circle deflected in off Schmid’s right shoulder.

Dubois made it 2-0 at 3:23. Protas got to a loose puck behind the net and passed out to Dubois, who scored on a one-timer from the low slot.

“Felt good tonight,” Dubois said. “Tom [Wilson] and ‘Pro’ really make my life easier out there. Felt great but a lot of help around me.”

Chychrun increased the lead to 3-0 at 14:52 when he beat Schmid on a high one-timer from just below the right face-off dot.

Bowman pulled the Golden Knights to within 3-1 at 2:27 of the third period. Kaedan Korczak’s pass on the rush appeared to deflect off Washington’s Declan Chisholm, and Bowman got to the puck behind the defense and scored over Thompson’s left pad.

“Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what it hit, but I just looked up, and I saw it there,” Bowman said. “I had a little space and luckily was able to bury it.”

Hertl cut it to 3-2 at 9:15, scoring from the slot when his redirection of Pavel Dorofeyev's pass deflected off defenseman Matt Roy’s skate and past Thompson during a power play. The goal was Hertl’s 600th NHL point.

“Yeah, we know we're really strong in the third, it’s happening too many times,” Hertl said. “We struggle for 40 minutes and we come back for the third, and then all of a sudden we have great push. Sometimes we tie it, sometimes not, but when you have so many games, there’s good teams, it’s too hard to do every night.”

Thompson stopped Brayden McNabb on a breakaway with 4:09 remaining before making a strong save against Mitch Marner to preserve the lead.

“Huge, huge, huge saves there to preserve that win for us,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “'LT' steps up for the guys and finds a way to make a big save at a big moment.”

NOTES: Chychrun, who was playing his 600th NHL game, scored his 12th game-winning goal since joining the Capitals last season, the most among all defensemen during that span and four more than the next closest (Cale Makar, eight). … The Capitals have won five straight games at Capital One Arena, their longest home winning streak of the season. … Marner (assist) has 800 points (237 goals, 563 assists) in 715 NHL games.