Ovechkin gets 2 goals, Capitals score 8 to ease past Blues

ST. LOUIS -- Alex Ovechkin scored twice for the Washington Capitals in an 8-1 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

With eight goals in his past seven games, and 10 this season, Ovechkin now has 863 career goals, leaving him 31 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record.

It took Ovechkin 14 games to reach 10 goals this season. Last season, it took him 45 games (Feb. 6).

"He energizes the whole team," Capitals forward Dylan Strome said. "Everyone wants to see him score. Obviously we're all working towards that record and we're winning hockey games. Both are going well and hopefully we can keep going."

Connor McMichael scored twice, Jakob Chychrun and Michael Sgarbossa each had a goal and an assist, and Strome had three assists for the Capitals (10-4-0), who lost 4-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday. Logan Thompson made 24 saves to improve to 7-0-0 this season.

"That was pretty impressive," Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. "I felt like we weathered the storm a little bit, it was tight early. We had to find our footing a little bit and [Thompson] made some big saves. Then we settled in in the third period and we were able to take over the game and sustain it."

Scott Perunovich scored his first NHL goal in his 79th game, and Jordan Binnington allowed eight goals on 27 shots for the Blues (7-8-0), who have lost two straight after winning the first two of a five-game homestand.

Saturday marked the second time in six games the Blues allowed eight goals in a game. They lost 8-1 against the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 29.

"It boils down to effort," Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. "We let our goalie hang out to dry there in the third period and let them get eight. You can't sugarcoat it when you let in eight. It just boils down to being in a hockey game, being able to come back [from down] 3-1, to letting in five in the third period. It's just absolutely unacceptable."

McMichael scored 59 seconds into the first period to put the Capitals up 1-0 when he skated into the offensive zone and snapped a shot from the top of the right circle off both posts and in.

Perunovich tied it 1-1 at 7:07. After a face-off win, Matthew Kessel found Perunovich alone in the slot, where he scored on a wrist shot.

Ovechkin made it 2-1 at 7:42 of the second period with a wrist shot from the left circle, and Chychrun made it 3-1 at 10:53 with a wrist shot from the high slot after a turnover in the neutral zone.

Ovechkin's power-play goal from the left circle at 2:09 of the third period made it 4-1.

"I thought that fourth goal was huge on the power play," Carbery said. "What I appreciated about that most was we have a couple looks, it gets cleared and sometimes it deflates the top unit, and then it's just a ragtag. But they stayed on it."

Rasmus Sandin made it 5-1 at 3:51, one-timing a drop pass from Sgarbossa into an open net.

McMichael's power-play goal at 10:20 made it 6-1. Washington entered the game ranked last in the NHL on the power play (4-for-46) but was 2-for-2 in the game.

Sgarbossa made it 7-1 at 15:27, and Brandon Duhaime scored at 16:45 for the 8-1 final.

"To be honest, I don't really have an answer for that," Blues defenseman Justin Faulk said of allowing five third-period goals. "It's completely unacceptable. It's just not right. I don't think that should ever happen, a situation like that. We need to have respect for each other, the game. You can't just go out there and play summer hockey for a period and think that's alright at any point. We're grown men in this league and need to put in an effort that's acceptable. It's not going to go your way every night but you can't let ... that's just unacceptable."

NOTES: Ovechkin has 38 points (21 goals, 17 assists) in 27 games against St. Louis. He has 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in the past seven games. ... Strome has 13 points (one goal, 12 assists) in the past seven games. He also has had an assist on all 10 of Ovechkin's goals this season. ... Chychrun was plus-3 in 18:44 after missing the past five games with an upper-body injury. ... Thompson, who is 5-0-1 all-time against the Blues, set a Capitals record for most consecutive wins to start a season with seven (Tomas Vokoun, six in 2011).