Capitals rout Blue Jackets behind 5 first-period goals

Connor McMichael scored twice to help the Washington Capitals to a 7-2 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.

Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome each had a goal and two assists for the Capitals, who have won three straight. Logan Thompson made 34 saves.

Damon Severson and Kevin Labanc scored for the Blue Jackets, and Daniil Tarasov made 15 saves.

Aliaksei Protas got the rout started just 56 seconds into the contest, finishing off a short give-and-go with Strome before snapping it glove side on Tarasov. McMichael doubled the lead less than a minute later when he took a seam pass from Rasmus Sandin at the right circle and roofed it into the far side at 1:42.

Andrew Mangiapane made it 3-0 at 7:28. Tarasov made a pad save on Jakub Vrana's shot from the right wall, but the rebound bounced to Managiapane in stride at the side of the net.

The Capitals' first three goals came on their first three shots. Columbus, meanwhile, didn't record its first shot on goal until eight minutes into the period.

Ovechkin scored his sixth of the season to extend it to 4-0 at 14:34 with a slap shot one-timer from above the left circle off a feed from Strome. Nic Dowd added to it 24 seconds later, taking a short pass at the front of the net from Trevor van Riemsdyk and slipped it under Tarasov for a 5-0 advantage.

The Blue Jackets got on the board early in the second. Adam Fantilli batted the puck off the faceoff back to Severson, who fired a wrister from above the slot that trickled through Thompson to make it 5-1.

McMichael's second goal of the game pushed it to 6-1 at 4:51, as he collected a rebound at the goal line and banked it off defenseman David Jiricek in the crease and into the net.

Labanc narrowed it to 6-2 when he poked the puck under a sprawled Thompson at 14:36.

Strome finished off the scoring at 18:34 of the third period.

--Field Level Media