Washington Capitals make it back-to-back wins against Winnipeg Jets

WINNIPEG - Alex Ovechkin scored two goals and Braden Holtby made 30 saves as the Washington Capitals beat the Winnipeg Jets 6-1 on Friday night.

Brooks Laich, Troy Brouwer, Jay Beagle and Mike Green also scored for the Capitals (14-16-1) and Mike Ribeiro had two assists as Washington picked up a much-needed four points in two nights thanks to the Jets.

Dustin Byfuglien scored Winnipeg's only goal in the third, winning a standing ovation as he stopped what looked like another shutout to follow Thursday's 4-0 loss to the Capitals.

Winnipeg (16-14-2) kept its tenuous hold on first place in the Southeast Division with closest rival Carolina idle. Washington meanwhile moved ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who visit Winnipeg on Sunday.

The Jets had more life Friday and put lots of pressure on Washington in the first period, outshooting the Capitals 10-7, but came up dry on three power plays and the result was pretty much the same as the night before.

Laich scored first Friday, raising one past Ondrej Pavelec's glove side from the left faceoff circle at 12:10.

The Jets had a few more chances at the Washington net but couldn't get past Holtby.

Evander Kane came close, but a few seconds later at the other end of the ice Brouwer and Ribeiro broke away and Brouwer picked the same corner of the net as Laich.

The second period followed the same pattern as the first.

Beagle scored after taking a pass from Ward in front of Pavelec. It was enough for Jets coach Claude Noel, who pulled Pavelec for backup Al Montoya at the 5:50 mark. Pavelec finished with six saves on nine shots.

Montoya, who had 12 saves, didn't fare any better. Ovechkin fired a screamer of a wrist shot into the Winnipeg net about two minutes later.

Fans were chanting "shoot the puck" at the Jets by the end of the period as they missed another power-play opportunity.

Green slapped one past Montoya to start the third period.

Noel tried mixing up his lines. Chris Thorburn moved up to the third line with Nik Antropov and Kyle Wellwood and later Blake Wheeler was skating with Kane and Olli Jokinen, but nothing seemed to work for the Jets.

It was Byfuglien who broke through with a puck that was fired from the boards near the goal-line and sliced past Holtby on a sharp angle to catch the edge of the net.

But Ovechkin slapped one past Montoya on Washington's final power play of the game at 15:58.

The Jets finished 0 for 5 on the power play.

Notes: The Jets have a record of 5-6-0 against Southeast Division rivals this season.