Ovechkin scores 40th goal in Capitals loss to Ducks

ANAHEIM -- Alex Ovechkin scored his 40th goal for the Washington Capitals, but Ryan Miller set the record for wins by a U.S.-born goalie in the Anaheim Ducks' 5-2 victory at Honda Center on Sunday.

Ovechkin is the fourth player in NHL history to score 40 goals in at least 10 seasons. Wayne Gretzky did it in 12 seasons, and Marcel Dionne and Mario Lemieux each did it in 10.
Miller passed John Vanbiesbrouck with his 375th NHL win. He tied Vanbiesbrouck with a 19-save relief performance in a 6-5 victory against the Capitals on Dec. 2 but had not played since injuring his knee Dec. 9 against the New Jersey Devils.
WATCH: [All Capitals vs. Ducks highlights]
"It's an amazing journey," said Miller, who made 23 saves. "You reflect on a night like this, and just a lot of people were there to help you along the way, and a lot of great teammates. All those wins have been a lot of fun. You get to smile and have a good time after those kinds of games, and I got to do that a number of times."
Adam Henrique had two goals and an assist, and Jakob Silfverberg scored two goals for the Ducks (23-27-9), who are five points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

Corey Perry scored his first goal of the season and had an assist on Henrique's game-winning goal, and Ryan Getzlaf had two assists for Anaheim.
Ovechkin said he wasn't surprised the Ducks scored five goals after combining for nine in their previous nine games (1-8-0).
"They have some talent," he said. "They have some experience over there."
John Carlson had a goal and an assist, and Braden Holtby made 34 saves for Washington (32-20-7), which is 2-2-1 in its past five games and trails the New York Islanders by five points for first place in the Metropolitan Division.
"These are important games and important points," Carlson said. "Everything is so tight right now that we've got to work through this and start getting hot quickly."
The Ducks scored two power-play goals in the third period before Silfverberg made it 5-2 at 14:55 with his Anaheim-leading 15th goal.
Henrique tapped in the puck during a scramble in front of the net for a 3-2 lead 37 seconds into the period. Perry, playing his eighth game after he missed the first four months of the season with a knee injury, scored at 3:40 for a 4-2 lead.
"We played a desperate team that worked, and they were more detailed than us," Capitals coach Todd Reirden said. "Those are a couple areas that have been sources of areas that we need to improve on, and tonight it kind of reared its head in terms of how the goals ended up in our net."
Ovechkin drew a tripping penalty against Hampus Lindholm at 2:58 of the first period and scored on a one-timer from the left face-off circle off a pass from Carlson to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 4:58.
It is the eighth time in Ovechkin's 13 full NHL seasons that he reached 40 goals first.
Henrique tied the game 1-1 at 6:26 of the second period, ending a 139:56 goal drought for Anaheim.
Silfverberg redirected a pass from Henrique for a 2-1 lead at 14:07.
Carlson scored on a shot from the point at 17:01 of the second to tie it 2-2.
The Ducks won both games of their season series with the Capitals for the first time since the 1999-00 season.

They said it

"We had a lot of shifts where it was pretty evident we were doing what we wanted. We've got to cash in on more of them, and we've got to have that same mentality for longer stretches." -- Capitals defenseman John Carlson

"There are a lot of great American goalies that are going to chase me down eventually, but it's nice to have [the record] for a while."-- Ducks goalie Ryan Miller

Need to know

Capitals forward T.J. Oshie did not return for the second period because of an upper-body injury. He had 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in the previous 11 games. ... Carlson needs one assist for 300 in his NHL career. ... The Ducks retired Scott Niedermayer's No. 27 in a ceremony before the game. The defenseman played for the Ducks from 2005-10 and was captain of their only Stanley Cup championship team, in 2007. ... Cam Fowler had an assist on Perry's goal to move past Niedermayer for most by a defenseman in Ducks history (205). ... Anaheim forward Nick Ritchie returned after missing the 3-0 loss to the Boston Bruins on Friday with an illness. ... Ducks forward Daniel Sprong was a healthy scratch for the first time since he was acquired in a trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 3. ... Anaheim won 38 of 54 face-offs (70.4 percent).

What's next

Capitals: At the Los Angeles Kings on Monday (10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)
Ducks: At the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, PRIME, NHL.TV)