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Evgeny Kuznetsov is dancing with the puck and celebrating when it’s in the net just like last June.Kuznetsov continued his wizardry against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night Keith Yandle Jersey , scoring a goal and assisting on three more as part of a 5-2 Washington Capitals victory in a rematch of last season’s Stanley Cup Final.Kuznetsov assisted on two goals by Alex Ovechkin and one by Nicklas Backstrom and scored his own on the power play. The leading scorer in the Cup Final with eight points in five games, Kuznetsov has seven points through the defending champions’ first three games of the regular season.“If you play with the good players, you’re always gonna get points,” Kuznetsov said after one of the best all-around games of his career. “It’s just about have fun every night you go out there. If you don’t have fun and you don’t want to enjoy, you don’t want to play hockey, you should be retired. But you can see we always have fun.”The Capitals are having plenty of fun right now with the franchise’s Stanley Cup banner in the rafters and almost the same team back. Perhaps most importantly, they still have Kuznetsov and Ovechkin, whose sublime chemistry from the playoffs was again on display against the Golden Knights.“He knows when to pass, he knows when to shoot,” said Ovechkin, who has four goals in three games. “Sometimes he try to make crazy pass. You think, ‘What’s he doing?’ But he have his own mind. … You just have to be ready at any second.”The 610th and 611th goals of Ovechkin’s career put him in sole possession of 17th on the NHL’s career list, passing Bobby Hull. Kuznetsov pointed out that Ovechkin passes someone every 10 games or so and joked, “That’s a free meal for me.”Braden Holtby, who made “the save” with his stick in Game 2 of the Final, stopped 29 of 31 shots and bailed out his teammates during an especially sloppy second period. Holtby allowed goals to Cody Eakin in the second period and Reilly Smith in the third.“We’ve played against them enough to know that they’re going to come at some point Authentic Nick Bjugstad Jersey ,” Holtby said. “It’s a matter of keeping your cool and not getting frustrated. You need a couple big plays, be it blocks or saves or guys getting the puck out.”Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who wanted to start this game instead of facing his former team in Pittsburgh on Thursday night, allowed four goals on 28 shots.“I think just a few mistakes here there, including myself and guys in our defensive zone maybe,” Fleury said. “But if we clean that up, we’ll be in good shape.”His teammates hit the post a handful of times and went 0 for 3 on the power play and are 0 for 11 so far this season. The Golden Knights fell to 1-3-0 at the beginning of their second season a year after starting 8-2-0.“It’s a long year and we have to figure out things quick,” Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore said. “We definitely have to work some things out and find our game.”Notes: T.J. Oshie sealed the Capitals’ victory with an empty-net goal with 1:55 remaining, sparking chants of “back-to-back.” … Washington D Brooks Orpik returned early in the second period after taking a big hit from William Carrier and landing awkwardly in the first. … Vegas C Paul Stastny will miss at least the next two games with a lower-body injury. Coach Gerard Gallant said Stastny will be re-evaluated when the team returns home over the weekend after this road trip. … Washington D Michal Kempny made his season debut after missing the first two games with a suspected concussion. … F Dmitrij Jaskin made his Capitals debut after they claimed him off waivers from St. Louis.UP NEXTGolden Knights: Continue their Eastern Conference road trip at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.Capitals: Expected to give backup goaltender Pheonix Copley his first start of the season at the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night. SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 39th goal, T.J. Oshie had two goals and an assist, and the Washington Capitals beat the San Jose Sharks 5-1 on Thursday night.Jakub Vrana and Tom Wilson each had a goal and an assist, and Nicklas Backstrom had two assists for Washington. Braden Holtby stopped 24 shots, and Ovechkin added an assist as the Capitals won for the fifth time in seven games after dropping seven straight.San Jose ended a six-game winning streak, which began with a 7-6 overtime win at Washington on Jan. 22. Sharks goalie Martin Jones turned back 18 shots.The Sharks took an early lead on Kevin Labanc’s 11th goal at 2:06 of the first period, but it was all Washington after that.MAPLE LEAFS 6 Vincent Trocheck Jersey , GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3LAS VEGAS (AP) — Auston Matthews scored two goals, including the 100th of his career, to lead Toronto over Vegas.The Maple Leafs, who improved to 36-18-3 this season and 19-7-2 on the road, are 15-7-0 against the Western Conference and 9-2-0 against Pacific Division opponents this season.Morgan Rielly scored his fifth game-winner when his shot made its way through traffic to beat Marc-Andre Fleury and put Toronto ahead 4-3 at the midway point of the third period.Vegas, meanwhile, has lost three in a row and a franchise-record five straight at T-Mobile Arena, including the first three of a four-game homestand.ISLANDERS 3, BLUE JACKETS 0COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Thomas Greiss stopped 31 shots for his fourth shutout of the season and New York beat Columbus.Casey Cizikas scored twice on breakaways and Josh Bailey also had a goal for the Islanders, who cruised to their fifth win in the last seven games.Greiss was outstanding in getting his 12th career shutout and the Islanders defenders showed why they are tops in the NHL in keeping opponents’ pucks out of their net. New York, which began the night three points ahead of Washington atop the Metropolitan Division, snapped the Blue Jackets‘ four-game win streak.Sergei Bobrovsky had 24 saves for the Blue Jackets, who is tied with Pittsburgh with 67 points but holds third place in the Metropolitan due to a game in hand. The game was a letdown for Columbus, which seemed to have momentum after shutting out the Capitals by the same score on Tuesday.LIGHTNING 6, STARS 0TAMPA Adrian Kempe Jersey , Fla. (AP) — Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist, Nikita Kucherov added a goal and three assists, and Tampa Bay beat Dallas.Tyler Johnson, Mikhail Sergachev and Alex Killorn also scored to help the Lightning improve to 6-0-2 in the last eight games and reach 90 points in 58 games this season. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots for his fifth shutout of the season and 17th of his career to tie Ben Bishop for most in team history.Dallas goalie Anton Khudobin was pulled from the game twice, allowing five goals on 21 shots. Landon Bow finished with four saves in 27:07 of ice time for Dallas, which fell to 1-2-1 in the past four games.BLACKHAWKS 5, DEVILS 2CHICAGO (AP) — Patrick Kane scored his 34th goal and added two assists to lead Chicago over New Jersey for its eighth victory in nine games.Brandon Saad and Artem Anisimov each had a goal and an assist, and Jonathan Toews and Drake Caggiula also scored for the Blackhawks. Cam Ward stopped 41 shots.Damon Severson and Travis Zajac scored to give the Devils a 2-0 lead with a little more than three minutes left in the first period before the Blackhawks took over. New Jersey has lost two straight and five of its last six.Devils goalie Cory Schneider finished with 31 saves to extend his regular-season winless streak to 24 games. He is now 0-17-4 since his last win Dec. 27, 2017.BLUES 4, COYOTES 0GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Jordan Binnington matched a franchise rookie record with his seventh straight victory, Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice and St. Louis stretched its longest winning streak in 18 years to eight games.Joel Edmundson scored early in the first and had an assist on Tarasenko’s goal late in the period. Tarasenko put the Blues up 3-0 late in the second period with a power-play goal, giving him nine goals and eight assists during a career-high 10-game points streak.Robert Bortuzzo scored his second goal of the third period for the Blues, who have their longest winning streak since 2000-01. St. Louis is 14-4-1 in 2019, including 9-2-1 on the road. Binnington made 21 saves.CANUCKS 4, KINGS 3 http://www.officialislanders.com/authentic-adidas-mathew-barzal-jersey , SOLOS ANGELES (AP) — Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser scored in a shootout after Adam Gaudette tied it with 1:38 remaining in the third period to lift Vancouver.Pettersson and Boeser also scored in regulation for the Canucks, who had lost four straight road games. Jacob Markstrom made 35 saves through overtime, before allowing a shootout goal to Ilya Kovalchuk and then stopping Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe.Alec Martinez had a goal and an assist for the Kings, who had not played at home since Jan. 21 because of the All-Star Game, bye week and a six-game road trip while Staples Center hosted the Grammys. Jonathan Quick made 24 saves.PANTHERS 3, FLAMES 2, SOSUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Vincent Trocheck scored in the third round of the shootout to lift Florida over Calgary.Elias Lindholm scored for Calgary late in the third period to extend the game, but Matthew Tkachuk missed in the third round of the shootout with a chance to do the same.Mike Hoffman had a goal and an assist, and Evgenii Dadonov scored for Florida. Mark Jankowski also had a goal for the Flames, who lost their fourth straight. Florida goalie James Reimer, pulled to start the third period in Sunday’s 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay, stopped 41 shots. Mike Smith had 30 saves and lost his third straight.AVALANCHE 4, JETS 1WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Gabriel Landeskog scored his team-leading 30th goal of the season as Colorado beat Winnipeg to snap its season-high eight-game losing streak.Dominic Toninato got his first NHL goal, and J.T. Compher and Sven Andrighetto also scored for the Avalanche http://www.officialislanders.com/authentic-adidas-nick-leddy-jersey , who were 0-5-3 during their skid. Matt Nieto had two assists, and Semyon Varlamov stopped 24 shots.Brandon Tanev scored his career-high 12th goal of the season for Winnipeg, which lost in regulation at home for the first time in 10 games (8-1-1). Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves.PREDATORS 3, CANADIENS 1NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Pekka Rinne made 34 saves, Viktor Arvidsson scored and Nashville beat Montreal.Ryan Hartman and Brian Boyle also had the goals for Nashville, which snapped a three-game skid.Tomas Tatar scored and Carey Price made 35 saves for Montreal, which has lost consecutive games for the first time since early January.RED WINGS 3, SENATORS 2DETROIT (AP) — Andreas Athanasiou scored twice, including a penalty shot, and Jimmy Howard made 40 saves in his 500th game to lead Detroit over Ottawa.Frans Nielsen scored to break a 2-2 tie late in the second period.Brady Tkachuk and Matt Duchene scored for Ottawa, and Anders Nilsson stopped 26 shots.