Tom Wilson's first hat trick sends Capitals past Ducks

Tom Wilson celebrated his 700th NHL game with his first career hat trick to lead the visiting Washington Capitals to a 5-4 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night.

It was the 12th multi-goal game of Wilson's career and his first since March 1, 2023, also at Anaheim. Anthony Mantha and Nic Dowd each added a goal for Washington, which won its second straight game and prevailed for the seventh time in nine games.

Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson logged two assists apiece for the Capitals, and Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves.

Brett Leason and Tristan Luneau each had a goal and an assist while Brock McGinn and Frank Vatrano also scored for Anaheim, which lost its eighth consecutive game. John Gibson finished with 21 saves in his 447th career game in goal for the Ducks, tying Jean-Sebastien Giguere's team record.

Washington, playing the second half of a back-to-back that began with a 2-1 victory at Los Angeles on Wednesday, needed just 87 seconds to jump out to a 1-0 lead. Mantha stole the puck in the left corner and then cut across in front of the crease and tucked a backhand shot inside the right post for his fifth goal of the season.

Anaheim tied it 22 second later when Luneau put in a rebound of his own shot for his first career goal in his fifth game. The Ducks then took a 2-1 lead at the 7:51 mark when Leason tapped in a rebound of a Leo Carlsson shot in the slot.

The Capitals took control near the end of the six-goal first period with three goals in the span of 3:05.

Wilson tied it 2-2 at the 15:54 mark with a breakaway score, putting in a backhand shot five-hole on Gibson.

Wilson then put Washington back in front with a power-play goal at 18:39, backhanding in a rebound in the slot of an Ovechkin shot.

Dowd made it 4-2 just 20 seconds later when he redirected a Rasmus Sandin point shot past Gibson. The Capitals posted a four-goal first period for the first time since March 3, 2008, when they had six in the opening frame against the Boston Bruins.

Anaheim cut it to 4-3 with 8:15 left in the third period on a highlight-reel goal by McGinn. He put in a spinning, through-the-legs backhand rebound in from the slot for his first goal.

Wilson, 29, completed his hat trick with his second power-play goal of the game to make it 5-3 with 5:38 left, converting a rebound of an Ovechkin shot after several hacks from the left side of the crease.

Anaheim pulled Gibson for an extra attacker with 1:45 to go and Vatrano scored his 14th goal on a rebound with 27.3 seconds left. However, the Ducks didn't get another shot on goal after that.

—Field Level Media