SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — T.J. Oshie got the Washington Capitals going Thursday night, and Alex Ovechkin helped poured it on from there.

Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 39th goal, Oshie had two goals and an assist, and the Capitals beat the San Jose Sharks 5-1.

Jakub Vrana and Tom ...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 39th goal, T.J. Oshie had two goals and an assist, and the Washington Capitals beat the San Jose Sharks 5-1 on Thursday night.

Jakub Vrana and Tom Wilson each had a goal and an assist, and Nicklas Backstrom had two assists for ...

BOSTON (AP) — Patrice Bergeron celebrated his 1,000th career game with a pair of goals as the Boston Bruins beat the New York Islanders 3-1 on Tuesday night.

Bergeron, just the fifth player in Bruins’ history to play 1,000 games with the club, scored early in the second period and added an ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — T.J. Oshie put in the work to help Alex Ovechkin set another record and get the defending Stanley Cup champions back on track.

Oshie scored his 16th goal of the season as part of a dominant performance, Braden Holtby made 30 saves and stopped a penalty shot and the ...

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — The Washington Capitals will soon have some decisions to make about their future at goaltender.

The Capitals signed backup Phoenix Copley to a $3.3 million, three-year extension Monday that keeps him under contract through the 2021-22 season at a salary-cap hit of ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tuukka Rask made 24 saves, David Krejci scored and the Boston Bruins beat the Washington Capitals 1-0 on Sunday to snap a 14-game skid against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Boston beat Washington for the first time since March 29, 2014. The Bruins snapped a ...

TORONTO (AP) — Nazem Kadri recorded the fifth hat trick of his career and added an assist as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated Washington 6-3 on Wednesday night and dealt the defending Stanley Cup champion Capitals their seventh straight loss.

Auston Matthews, Nikita Zaitsev and Mitch ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tomas Hertl completed his hat trick by scoring in overtime, and the San Jose Sharks withstood Alex Ovechkin’s three goals to beat the Washington Capitals 7-6 on Tuesday night and hand the defending Stanley Cup champions their sixth consecutive defeat.

Hertl scored 2:48 ...

CHICAGO (AP) — Jonathan Toews had three goals and two assists, Patrick Kane added two goals and three assists, and the Chicago Blackhawks handed the Washington Capitals their season-high fifth consecutive loss with an 8-5 victory on Sunday.

Brandon Saad and Alex DeBrincat also scored and ...

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — All-Star goaltender Braden Holtby is expected to start for the Washington Capitals on Friday night against the New York Islanders after missing two games with an eye injury.

Holtby said his left eye is back to normal after it initially didn’t progress as quickly as ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Artemi Panarin flapping his arms to mimic Evgeny Kuznetsov’s goal celebration for the final insult, but the defending Stanley Cup champions were more concerned about a potentially significant injury.

Panarin scored in overtime for the second consecutive game to give the ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — After four days off — three without practice — the Washington Capitals shook off some expected rust Thursday night in one of their most balanced performances of the season.

T.J. Oshie scored his 11th goal of the season on the power play, John Carlson had an empty-netter, ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson broke a tie with seven minutes left, Braden Holtby made 36 saves and the Washington Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 on Friday night.

Evgeny Kuznetsov started the winning play when he stole the puck from goalie Carter Hutton behind the net. The center ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Braden Holtby and Tom Wilson gave the Washington Capitals another two points in the standings.

Holby made 36 saves, Wilson broke a tie with seven minutes left and the Stanley Cup champion Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 on Friday night.

Evgeny Kuznetsov started ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The calendar said December. The intensity felt like late spring.

The third meeting this season between longtime rivals Pittsburgh and Washington featured tight checking, strong goaltending and more than a few punches. The Penguins won 2-1 on Wednesday night, yet the ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his 21st hat trick and first this season to lift the Washington Capitals over the Detroit Red Wings 6-2 on Tuesday night.

Ovechkin entered the night as the NHL’s goal leader and stretched his total to 25 through 30 games, halfway to a potential eighth ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Washington Capitals seemed a step faster than the discombobulated Columbus Blue Jackets all night long and took full advantage of some early opportunities.

The result was a 4-0 win by the Capitals over the Blue Jackets on Saturday that seemed so easy it was ...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Vegas’ Nate Schmidt has acknowledged there are times that playing hockey isn’t fun, including losing to the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup finals.

The defenseman erased some of that pain on Tuesday night.

Schmidt scored twice in the final two minutes to lift ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Tom Wilson scored twice, Braden Holtby stopped 32 shots and the Washington Capitals beat the New York Islanders and former coach Barry Trotz 4-1 Monday night for their season-high sixth straight win.

Nic Dowd and Alex Ovechkin also scored for Washington, which won after ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Tom Wilson had extra time to work on his skills while serving a suspension during the first 16 games of the season. It’s paid off in a big way for the Washington Capitals since his return.

Wilson scored twice, Braden Holtby stopped 32 shots and the Capitals beat the New ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Brett Connolly was calling for the puck as he skated up the left side. He quickly put the Washington Capitals ahead when he got a cross-ice pass from John Carlson and helped the Capitals keep their winning streak going.

Connolly scored the tiebreaking goal on a one-timer ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson missed Washington’s first 16 games due to a suspension for an illegal check. In the five games since his return, Wilson has shown just how valuable he is to the Capitals.

Wilson scored 54 seconds into the contest to set the pace and Washington defeated the ...

MONTREAL (AP) — Casey Price’s sensational save at the end of regulation was for naught after the Montreal goaltender gave up a bad goal in overtime.

Lars Eller scored through Price’s legs with less than 90 seconds left in overtime and the Washington Capitals rallied to beat the Canadiens ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Richard Panik and Alex Galchenyuk each had a goal and an assist, and the Arizona Coyotes became the latest team to take advantage of Washington’s penalty-killing struggles in a 4-1 win over the Capitals on Sunday.

Galchenyuk and Vinnie Hinostroza each scored on the man ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — T.J. Oshie left for the second time after taking Evgeni Malkin’s shoulder to the head but returned to score late and lift the Washington Capitals over the rival Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on Wednesday night in a meeting of the two most recent Stanley Cup champions.

Alex ...

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — The Edmonton Oilers got a signature early-season victory — and not just because it came against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Rookie Evan Bouchard scored his first goal, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist and the Oilers beat the Washington Capitals ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Evgeny Kuznetsov continued his dominance against the Vegas Golden Knights, scoring a goal and assisting on three more as part of a 5-2 Washington Capitals victory Wednesday night in a rematch of last season’s Stanley Cup Final.

Kuznetsov assisted on two goals by Alex ...

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins gained a measure of revenge against a rival that ended their season last spring.

Kris Letang scored his second goal 1:20 into overtime and the Penguins opened theseason with a 7-6 victory over the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals on ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin and the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals opened their title defense with a 7-0 thrashing of the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night.

After watching the franchise’s first Stanley Cup banner ascend to the rafters, T.J. Oshie opened the scoring just 24 ...

WASHINGTON CAPITALS

LAST SEASON: 49-26-7, 105 points. Won Metropolitan Division and Stanley Cup.

COACH: Todd Reirden (First season, first NHL season)

ADDED: C Nic Dowd, G Ilya Samsonov

LOST: C Jay Beagle, G Philipp Grubauer, D Jakub Jerabek

PLAYER TO WATCH: LW Alex ...

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — While smiles are in high supply at training camp for the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals, open jobs are not.

Returning 18 of 20 the players who dressed in their Cup-clinching victory, the Capitals have almost no competition for roster spots going ...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Alex Ovechkin finally got to hoist the Stanley Cup. And then he raised the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the Stanley Cup Final.

Fellow Russian linemate Evgeny Kuznetsov and goaltender Braden Holtby certainly did some heavy lifting of their own.

In helping deliver ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Stanley Cup Final is a block party for the Washington Capitals.

For all of Evgeny Kuznetsov’s points on offense and Braden Holtby’s saves in net, the Capitals are one win away from blocking their way to the Cup. They’ve gotten in front of almost a third of the Vegas ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Evgeny Kuznetsov smiled about getting four assists. He tried not to smile too much at the thought of being one win away from the Stanley Cup.

With Kuznetsov and goaltender Braden Holtby leading the way, the Washington Capitals are on the verge of capturing the first title ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — James Neal had the puck on his stick and was staring at an open net. In a can’t-miss situation, that’s exactly what he did.

Poised to give the Vegas Golden Knights the opening goal in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, the veteran leader of this upstart expansion team

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Washington Capitals (all times local):

11:03 p.m.

The Washington Capitals have beaten the Vegas Golden Knights 3-1 and taken a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Final.

Alex ...

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Alex Ovechkin covered his eyes with his gloved hands in disbelief. Barry Trotz hid his disbelief inside.

Chandler Stephenson had the perfect view and didn’t like the odds. The net was wide open and Braden Holtby reached his stick across and