Capitals continue momentum with big win in Vancouver

The Washington Capitals had no easy five game road trip. In fact they lost two tough games and you would think they'd be back out of the race. But two big wins including Saturday night at the Vancouver Canucks by a final of 2-1 and you're still looking at the Caps being right in the hunt of things.

Thanks to a Red Wings win but an Islanders overtime loss, the Caps are now tied with the Isles for third place in the wild card. The Islanders play the Rangers today in the battle of New York at 1 p.m. on TNT. The Red Wings face the Penguins in Pittsburgh at 6 p.m. on NHL Network after the Pens lost to the Rangers on home ice on national TV.

At 1:11 aka 81 seconds into the game the Canucks struck first to the delight of the home crowd up northwest with Brock Boeser's 36th of the season.

At 6:01 in the second the Caps tied it with a goal from Tom Wilson on a snipe in front of the net from Ivan Miroshnichenko with John Carlson providing the secondary assist. It was Wilson's 16th of the season.

The Caps took the lead at 7:54 with Alex Ovechkin's 19th goal of the season. Connor McMichael and Alex Alexeyev had the assists there. It was Ovechkin's 841st of his career which puts him now at 53 behind Wayne Gretzky for first in goals all time in NHL history.

The Caps take on the Calgary Flames on Monday night at 8:30 p.m. eastern in the final game of their road trip. You can catch the game on Monumental Network locally and nationally on NHL Network.

The Caps outshot the Canucks 24-22 overall as both teams went 0 for 1 on the power play. Charlie Lindgren got the win with 21 saves.