Capitals score seven for second straight game

ST. LOUIS -- The Washington Capitals scored seven goals for the second straight game and extended their point streak to 12 with a 7-3 win against the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center on Thursday.
Seven players scored for the Capitals (30-9-6), who are 10-0-2 in their past 12 games. Washington lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 8-7 in overtime Monday.
"It's obviously fun," Washington forward Marcus Johansson said. "I think we're letting up a few many more than we want to, but it's always fun to score, see a lot of different guys score too. It's good for the team, good for the confidence."

WATCH: All Capitals vs. Blues highlights
It was the first time the Capitals scored at least seven goals in back-to-back games since Feb. 11-13, 1993.
"It's not a 7-3 game," Williams said. "Lately our games have just kind of not been grinding, they've kind of been out of hand, so, we're happy with the win."
Blues goalie Jake Allen allowed four goals on 10 shots and was pulled for the third straight game and fourth in the past six games.

Allen has allowed 10 goals on 36 shots in his past three starts. The Blues (23-18-5) have allowed 18 goals on a three-game losing streak at home.
"I don't know how far it sets him back, but everything we needed to see we saw at practice," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "There's a lot going on right now. There's a lot in his head. He's kind of locked up mentally and he's going to have to fight through this. ... We know right now we're going to need way better just to be competitive. They know that, we know that. Beating it up any more isn't going to do us any good, but we've got to get him unlocked. He's just locked right up."
Blues players refused to lay the blame on strictly goaltending.
"This is a team. There's no individuals," Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo said. "This is a team. It's got to come from in this locker room. It's a collective effort. Right now, it needs to be better."
Allen allowed two goals on three shots in the first 7:41 and was replaced by Hutton for 2:22. Allen re-entered and departed again after allowing his fourth goal to Brett Connolly 7:33 into the second period.
T.J. Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov each had a goal and an assist, and Andre Burakovsky, Jay Beagle, Johansson and Williams scored for the Capitals. Braden Holtby made 22 saves.

Washington has scored at least five goals in five straight games and eight of the past 11.
"It's actually kind of strange right now that everything seems to be going in," Williams said. "But I think internally you have to recognize the process of it, don't get carried away by we're scoring five, six, seven goals a night. It's not going to last, and we're realistic [of that fact]. But you ride the highs [but] we need to understand reality."
The Blues lost for the fourth time in five home games. Alexander Steen had two goals and an assist, and Jaden Schwartz had a goal and two assists. Hutton allowed three goals on eight shots.
Burakovsky scored at 5:37 of the first period to make it 1-0, and Beagle made it 2-0 at 7:41. Allen re-entered with 9:57 remaining in the period.
Schwartz cut the Washington lead to 2-1 19 seconds into the second, but Oshie scored at 3:57 to make it 3-1 before Connolly and Johansson scored 11 seconds apart at 7:33 and 7:44 to make it 5-1.
Williams scored a power-play goal at 13:30 of the second to make it 6-1. The Capitals had six goals on 16 shots through two periods.
Kuznetsov made it 7-1 at 6:20 of the third. Steen scored at 10:00 to make it 7-2 and at 16:25 to make it 7-3.

Goal of the game

Oshie's goal came as a result of some slick passing from Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. He scored on a backhand from the slot.

Save of the game

Holtby helped maintain a 2-0 lead when he smothered a redirection by Paul Stastny off a shot from the point with 8:58 remaining in the first period.

Highlight of the game

Kuznetsov waited for a lane to open up for Williams in the slot to give him a one-time opportunity.

Unsung performance of the game

Capitals forward Daniel Winnik had the primary assist on the first two goals.

They said it

"You never want to see a guy struggle like that. I'm sure everyone knows he's a professional, he's not going to back down. He'll be back on the top of his game. As a fellow player/goalie, you want to win, but you also don't want to see mental struggles, and I'm sure he'll get over it." -- Capitals goalie Braden Holtby on Jake Allen's struggles

Need to know

The Capitals are the first team to score at least seven goals in back-to-back games since the Nashville Predators on April 12 and 13, 2014, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. … Backstrom extended his point streak to eight games (four goals, 10 assists). ... Ovechkin extended his point streak to six games and has 13 goals and 12 assists in 15 games against St. Louis. ... Oshie has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in the past six games. ... Williams has nine goals and six assists in the past 13 games. ... Steen has five goals and seven assists in the past nine games.

What's next

Capitals: At the Dallas Stars on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; NHLN, FS-SW, CSN-DC+, NHL.TV)
Blues: At the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; TSN3, FS-MW, NHL.TV)