Braden Holtby shuts out Canucks

WASHINGTON -- Braden Holtby made 20 saves to help the Washington Capitals shut out the Vancouver Canucks 3-0 at Verizon Center on Sunday.
Alex Ovechkin, Justin Williams and Tom Wilson scored for the Capitals (17-7-3), who have won four in a row.
"That was one of our best games of the year, obviously," Holtby said. "Even in generating good, quality scoring chances, we probably deserved a few more goals than that. It was a very well-rounded game. Our last two games have been fairly good. We're going in the right direction."

Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves for the Canucks (12-15-2) in his second game in as many nights.
WATCH: All Canucks vs. Capitals highlights
Ovechkin scored a power-play goal at 13:46 to make it 1-0. It was his 13th of the season and first in seven games. Ovechkin became the 18th player in NHL history to reach 200 power-play goals.
Williams made it 2-0 at 5:06 of the third period with his fifth goal of the season. Williams scored on a one-timer following a pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov.
Wilson scored an empty-net goal with 52 seconds remaining.

The Canucks went 0-for-5 on the power play and had one shot on goal with the man-advantage.
"You've got to give the Capitals a lot of credit," Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. "They're a good hockey team. We knew that coming in. I thought our team battled hard. If you just look at the 5-on-5 play, we were pretty good. I thought our guys battled pretty hard."
Defenseman Matt Niskanen returned for the Capitals after missing one game because of an upper-body injury.
Canucks forward Jannik Hansen returned after missing 16 games because of an upper-body injury.

Goal of the game

Ovechkin scored with a one-timer from the left circle off a feed from John Carlson.

Save of the game

Markstrom stopped T.J. Oshie's chance from the slot and then froze the rebound to stop play 1:52 into the second period.

Highlight of the game

Williams buried Kuznetsov's pass in front of Markstrom on a tic-tac-toe play.

Unsung performance of the game

The Capitals' penalty kill was 5-for-5 and limited the Canucks to one shot on goal.

They said it

"We were really strong tonight, using each other on the ice to clear pucks, making it very tough on them to enter the zone. That's the signs of a penalty kill that's working together and on the same page. It was phenomenal tonight." -- Capitals goalie Braden Holtby
"I have pretty good chances (the) last couple games and sometimes the puck just don't want to go in. Obviously I've been in this situation before and it was not frustrating and all kinds of stuff. I just have to fight through it and maybe get a lucky one on the power play. Right now, the most important thing (is) we get two points. Standings right now if you look at it, it's very close. It doesn't matter who scores, who's not scoring, you just have to collect the points and move forward." -- Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin
"It comes off a little different. He's known for shooting high too. Your almost first thought is to take up the top part of the net, and this time he shot under the blocker. It's frustrating. That's one you want back for sure. You just have to forget it and move forward." -- Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom on Alex Ovechkin's power-play goal

Need to know

It was Holtby's 25th career shutout and second of the season. … The Capitals are 15-3-2 when they score first and 10-1-1 when they score a power-play goal.

What's next

Canucks: At the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; SNP, FS-CR,
NHL.TV
)
Capitals: At the New York Islanders on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; CSN-DC, MSG+,
NHL.TV
)