Washington @ Winnipeg preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 25, 2020 ) Winnipeg 3, Washington 4

Alex Ovechkin is off and running toward his next goal-scoring milestone, and the Washington Capitals look to complete a home-and-home sweep on Thursday at the Winnipeg Jets. After being honored for his 700th career goal before Tuesday’s 4-3 shootout victory over Winnipeg, Ovechkin scored No. 701 just 1:55 into the contest and netted the eventual winner in the shootout after the Jets rallied from a 3-0 deficit to force overtime.

“We make a couple of mistakes, and it’s not easy to get a win like that,” Ovechkin told reporters postgame. “But I think we deserved to win, how we played. All three periods, we played solid.” While the Capitals have won two in a row following an 0-3-1 stretch to remain in first place in the Metropolitan Division, the Jets salvaged a point and are in a virtual tie with Nashville and Arizona for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot. Forward Nikolaj Ehlers scored Winnipeg’s first goal with 1:27 left in the second period, and assisted on center Mark Scheifele’s game-tying tally with 3:14 remaining in regulation. “Nik’s goal was huge because now we’re talking about completely different things between the second and third (periods),” Jets coach Paul Maurice told the media postgame.

TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: NBCS Washington, TSN3

ABOUT THE CAPITALS (39-18-6): Defenseman Dmitry Orlov recorded his third multi-point game of the season Tuesday, assisting on the first two Washington goals. Forward Garnet Hathaway, who had one assist in his previous 24 games, scored his first goal since Dec. 23 in the second period. Goaltender Braden Holtby stopped 30-of-33 shots to win his second consecutive start, and in February has a .900 save percentage after posting a .865 percentage in January.

ABOUT THE JETS (32-27-6): Scheifele extended his point streak to five games, giving him four goals and five assists in that span. Ehlers has 14 points (five goals) in his past 14 games - recording points in 11 games - with goals in three of his past five contests. The Jets started backup goaltender Laurent Brossoit Tuesday and he made 34 saves, and likely will go with Connor Hellebuyck on Thursday as he tries to snap a two-start losing streak.

OVERTIME

1. Washington F Ilya Kovalchuk finished with three shots in 14:39 of ice time in his Capitals debut Tuesday.

2. Ovechkin sits seven goals shy of Mike Gartner for seventh place on the NHL's all-time list.

3. The Jets lost D Sami Niku prior to pre-game warmups Tuesday to a lower-body injury.

PREDICTION: Capitals 3, Jets 2