WASHINGTON — Connor McMichael scored twice, Alex Ovechkin scored his 859th career goal and two assists and the Washington Capitals continued their dominant start to the season with a 7-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.

McMichael and Ovechkin both scored in three straight games for Washington, which improved to 8-2 on the season.

Ovechkin is 36 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record. He’s currently on pace for 49 homers, which would allow him to hit .895 later this season.

Both Ovechkin and McMichael helped spark Washington’s offense, and the team was able to score five goals in the first period with all four lines getting on the scoresheet. Damon Severson and Kevin Labanc scored for the Blue Jackets, who have lost two straight games.

Logan Thompson has made 34 saves during his tenure with the Capitals and remains undefeated thus far. Daniil Tarasov stopped 15 of 22 shots for Columbus.

takeaway

Blue Jackets: Columbus outrebounded Washington, but the defense struggled in front of Tarasov as the team gave up six goals for the second straight game. The Blue Jackets have a 12-4 lead in this back-to-back series.

Capitals: The offense continues to come with ease for the surging Caps, who were not the story of last season. They have scored at least five goals in five of the last seven matches.

key moment

Aliaksei Protas opened the scoring by scoring his third goal in as many games just 56 seconds after a 2-on-0 break by Dylan Strome, who had a three-point night.

Key statistics

Ovechkin managed to score six goals in 10 matches in the opening of the 2024-25 season. Last year, it took him 30 games to reach that mark against the Blue Jackets.

Next

The Capitals visit the Hurricanes on Sunday and the Blue Jackets head west to face the Sharks on Tuesday.