Alex Ovechkin scored his 497th goal, Braden Holtby stopped 34 shots to keep up his stellar play and the NHL-leading Capitals beat the New York Islanders 4-1 in Washington on Thursday night.
Jason Chimera, Nate Schmidt and Nicklas Backstrom also scored to help Washington reach 63 points and become the first team with 30 wins. Holtby improved to 26-4-2, including 18-0-2 in his past 20 decisions.
“We had a good start, that was the key,” Backstrom said. “We were aggressive and kept the puck in their zone and tried to work it deep in there.