Connor McMichael scored two goals to lead the Washington Capitals to a 7-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome each contributed a goal and two assists for the Capitals, who have now won three games in a row. Logan Thompson made 34 saves in goal.
Damon Severson and Kevin Labanc scored for the Blue Jackets, and Daniil Tarasov made 15 saves.
Protas started the scoring just 56 seconds into the game by finishing a quick pass from Strome and shooting it past Tarasov. McMichael scored his first goal less than a minute later, taking a pass from Rasmus Sandin at the right circle and sending it into the far side of the net at 1:42.
Andrew Mangiapane made it 3-0 at 7:28. After Tarasov saved a shot from Jakub Vrana, the rebound went right to Mangiapane, who scored from the side of the net.’
The Capitals scored their first three goals on their first three shots. In contrast, Columbus didn’t get their first shot until eight minutes into the period.
Ovechkin added his sixth goal of the season at 14:34, making it 4-0 with a powerful slap shot from the left circle after a pass from Strome. Nic Dowd scored 24 seconds later, taking a short pass from Trevor van Riemsdyk and slipping it under Tarasov to make it 5-0.
The Blue Jackets finally got on the board early in the second period. Adam Fantilli won the puck off the faceoff and passed it to Severson, who shot from above the slot and found the net to make it 5-1.
McMichael scored his second goal at 4:51, gathering a rebound at the goal line and banking it off defenseman David Jiricek into the net to push the score to 6-1.
Labanc brought the score to 6-2 when he poked the puck under a sprawling Thompson at 14:36.
Strome capped off a series of quick passes at the left of the net, scoring at 18:34 of the third period for a final score of 7-2.
