Pierre-Luc Dubois scored twice and added an assist as the Washington Capitals fended off a late push from the Vegas Golden Knights to secure a 3-2 victory on Friday night.
Washington struck three times in the second period, with Dubois accounting for two of the goals and Jakob Chychrun adding his 22nd of the season. Vegas responded in the third with goals from Braeden Bowman and Tomas Hertl, but couldn’t complete the comeback.
The win moves the Capitals within two points of the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division and within two points of Boston for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. Washington is now 2-0 since the Olympic break and has won six of its last seven games.
Vegas, which leads the Pacific Division, had its three-game winning streak snapped despite welcoming back five Olympians to the lineup. The Golden Knights were missing key American and Canadian players in Wednesday’s win over Los Angeles, but all returned Friday.
After falling behind 3-0, Vegas made things interesting in the final period. Bowman ended Logan Thompson’s shutout bid early in the third, and Hertl’s power-play goal cut the deficit to one with 10:45 remaining. However, that was as close as the Golden Knights would get.
Mark Stone’s late high-sticking penalty gave Washington an advantage, though Thompson still had to make key stops during Vegas’ short-handed surge.
Dubois opened the scoring just 49 seconds into the second period, beating Akira Schmid high on the blocker side. He struck again minutes later off a feed from Aliaksei Protas to double the lead. Chychrun capped the scoring with a shot from the right circle that tucked under the crossbar.
The Capitals’ line of Dubois, Protas, and Tom Wilson, along with defenseman Rasmus Sandin, was on the ice for all three goals. Protas and Sandin each recorded two assists.
After being held pointless in his first six games this season and undergoing abdominal and adductor surgery, Dubois has caught fire with three goals and two assists in his last three contests.
Up Next
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Golden Knights: Visit Pittsburgh on Sunday.
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Capitals: Travel to Montreal on Saturday night.
