Ovechkin scores No. 742 in Capitals win against Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS-- Alex Ovechkin scored NHL goal No. 742 for the Washington Capitals in a 4-3 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Friday.

Conor Sheary broke a tie with 1:22 left in the third period.
"Great battle," Ovechkin said. "Again, I don't think we [had] a very good start but we keep playing the same way, playing our game and getting a result."
Garnet Hathaway scored twice, and Ilya Samsonov made 26 saves for the Capitals (8-2-4), who have won three in a row.
Sean Kuraly scored his first two goals with Columbus, and Joonas Korpisalo made 24 saves for the Blue Jackets (7-4-0), who had won three in a row.
"It was a fun one," Kuraly said. "Tough to see it end that way. That's a good team and it [stinks] to come out with no points in a game where you feel like you are right there at the end. We expect our team to battle back. We've got what we need to play with any team."
Dmitry Orlov made a diagonal pass to Sheary low in the right circle and his shot hit the post and slipped past Korpisalo.
"It was kind of a scramble in front," Sheary said. "Their coverage was a little messed. Once it went up to our [defenseman], I found a seam and Orlov made a nice pass and I had time to shoot. I tried to put it short side as much as I could and luckily it went in."

Ovechkin passed Brett Hull for fourth in NHL history when he scored his 12th of the season at 10:19 of the first period to make it 1-1.
Ovechkin trails Wayne Gretzky (894), Gordie Howe (801) and Jaromir Jagr (766) in NHL goals.
"It means a lot," Ovechkin said. "When you start playing hockey, when you come to the NHL, you never thought you'd be in that position with those names."
Kuraly scored at 2:33 of the first period to give Columbus a 1-0 lead. The forward from the Columbus suburb of Dublin, Ohio, signed a four-year contract on July 28 after five seasons with the Boston Bruins.
Hathaway scored at 24 seconds and 7:23 of the second period to make it 3-1 before Columbus scored twice in 22 seconds.
"I thought we came on, played really good from the start and got the lead," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "And then we just made a couple of mistakes that we typically haven't made, and all of a sudden they gained some momentum and then they were pressing, and they hit the post a couple of times and the second period got away from us."

Kuraly's second was scored from the left circle at 8:11 to make it 3-2, and Gustav Nyquist was sprung by Jakub Voracek for a breakaway to tie it 3-3 at 8:33.
"We have been doing that all year long. We don't quit on this team," Nyquist said. "To be down is not a recipe for success. It's not something we are trying to be down. It's good to come back and it was a pretty even third."
NOTES: Capitals forward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby had an assist on Hathaway's first goal for his first NHL point in his third game. ... Ovechkin has scored six points (two goals, four assists) in his past three games. He has eight multipoint games this season. ... Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov has five assists in his past three games. ... Columbus forward Boone Jenner has scored four points (two goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak. Voracek has six assists in a four-game streak, and forward Oliver Bjorkstrand has a four-game point streak (two goals, three assists). ... The Capitals were without forward T.J. Oshie (lower body), who missed his seventh straight game; forward Anthony Mantha (upper body), who missed his fourth; forward Nic Dowd (lower body), who was out his second.