Stars shake out of doldrums with dominant win at Capitals

Sam Steel had a goal with an assist, and Matt Duchene notched an assist for his 900th career point, as the visiting Dallas Stars snapped their season-high six-game losing streak with Wednesday night's 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals.

Radek Faksa recorded an early short-handed goal, Wyatt Johnston scored late and Roope Hintz added an empty-netter for Dallas. Casey DeSmith stopped 23 of 24 shots for the Stars, who had allowed four goals apiece in each game of their previous 0-3-3 rut.

Playing the second of a back-to-back scenario, Dallas posted its first victory since Dec. 21. The Stars also snapped a three-game road skid in the process.

DeSmith, Dallas' backup goaltender, was stout most of the evening, yielding only Alex Ovechkin's 915th career goal with 2:19 left in the third period, while Capitals netminder Logan Thompson (32 saves) was pulled for the extra skater. Washington, mired in a 5-7-4 stretch, was outscored 5-1 in losing both meetings with the Stars this season.

Dallas opened the scoring 3:06 into the contest. Despite Washington on the power play, Faksa got the puck at the blue line, broke into the zone with relative ease, took a shot on Thompson, then out-skated three Capitals to push in the rebound for a short-handed tally.

The Stars made it 2-0 at 2:37 into the second period, this time via a 4-on-4 situation that began with Duchene in position to record his milestone point. He then sent the puck to Thomas Harley (two assists), who delivered a nifty pass for Steel, camped at the side of the net, to bury.

Steel then set up Johnston for an insurance goal with 6:29 remaining in regulation. On the forecheck off a Washington own-zone turnover, Steel gained control of the puck, then from beyond the end line, sent it into the slot for a crashing Johnston to beat Thompson.

Washington once again played without injured key performers Tom Wilson and Aliaksei Protas, who are both dealing with lower-body issues.

--Field Level Media