Leonard scores twice, Capitals hold off Oilers

WASHINGTON -- Ryan Leonard scored twice for his first multigoal game in the NHL, and the Washington Capitals defeated the Edmonton Oilers 7-4 at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.

Tom Wilson scored two empty-net goals, and Alex Ovechkin scored in his third straight game for the Capitals (10-8-2). Connor McMichael and John Carlson each had three assists, and Logan Thompson made 26 saves.

“That’s a talented hockey team over there,” Thompson said. “They make plays. That was, just from my standpoint, one of the hardest games of the year. Credit to the guys, we stuck with it and found a way to win. These two points are huge.”

Darnell Nurse scored twice, Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist, and Connor McDavid had two assists for the Oilers (9-9-4), who have lost three of four. Stuart Skinner made 14 saves.

“Every time we pushed, they were able to find a way to capitalize on a chance,” Nurse said. “It’s frustrating for our group. We battled back. We haven’t been able to battle back many times this season. We were able to find some goals and keep ourselves in the game late.”

Aliaksei Protas gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 2:17 of the first period. Carlson’s shot from the right point appeared to be deflected in front, and Protas knocked the puck into an open net at the far post.

Ovechkin pushed the lead to 2-0 at 6:04 when he deflected Jakob Chychrun’s point shot with Skinner screened. He has three goals during his goal streak.

Nurse pulled the Oilers to within 2-1 at 7:05, scoring on a one-timer from the point off a pass from McDavid for his first goal in 10 games.

“It’s nice to contribute,” the defenseman said. “It’s been a while since I helped out on that side of the ice.”

Leonard increased the lead to 3-1 at 10:34, ending a 12-game goal drought. He gathered a loose puck at the left point, moved into the right face-off circle and scored on a snap shot.

“I was just trying to make a read, take ice where I can and shoot it when I see the net,” Leonard said.

Nurse made it 3-2 at 12:17, taking a Zach Hyman pass from below the goal line and scoring on a wrist shot from above the left circle.

Leonard gave the Capitals a 4-2 lead at 11:49 of the second period when he fended off Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard, deked and lifted a backhand shot past Skinner.

“The last few games have been his best games of the season thus far,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said of Leonard, who is in his first full NHL season. “You can see he’s just getting way more comfortable, way more confident. The little nuances of the game at this level and the expectations, the little plays, the little details of the game are just now becoming second nature to him.”

David Tomasek cut it to 4-3 at 2:41 of the third period. Andrew Mangiapane got to the puck behind the net and passed in front to Tomasek, who slid a backhand shot past Thomspon.

“We need to have secondary scoring,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We can’t rely on Connor and Leon or whoever’s playing with them. We need some bottom-six contributions. Tonight we got some of that, which is good.”

Anthony Beauvillier made it 5-3 at 6:37 when he scored off a cross-ice pass from Dylan Strome on a 2-on-1 rush.

“Just a high-end pass from him,” Beauvillier said of Strome. “He’s such a smart player and has the ability to find players at such a high speed.”

Draisaitl then made it 5-4 on the power play at 7:47, scoring on a one-timer from the right circle off a pass across the slot from McDavid, but Wilson scored at 18:59 and 19:27 for the 7-4 final.

“After the start, being down early, we had a lot of pushback throughout the game,” Knoblauch said, “and right up till the end where we had some chances to tie it up.”

NOTES: Capitals center Nic Dowd was a late scratch because of an upper-body injury. … Ovechkin became the first player age 40 or older to score in three straight games since Matt Cullen had a three-game goal streak for the Pittsburgh Penguins from Dec. 3-8, 2016. Ovechkin also scored his 480th goal at Capital One Arena (regular season and playoffs), tying Gordie Howe (Detroit Olympia) for the highest combined total at a single venue in NHL history. … Wilson reached 190 goals and passed Bobby Carpenter (188) for 10th in Washington history. … Draisaitl and McDavid became the sixth pair of teammates in NHL history to both factor on the same goal 500 times in their careers. Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom (502) were the last duo to reach that mark. … With his 569th assist, Draisaitl tied Jari Kurri for fourth in Oilers history. … McDavid has an 11-game point streak against the Capitals (21 points; eight goals, 13 assists) dating to Oct. 25, 2018.