WASHINGTON (AP) — Radek Faksa scored a shorthanded goal, Casey DeSmith made 23 saves and the Dallas Stars ended their losing streak at six games by defeating the Washington Capitals 4-1 on Wednesday night.
The Stars bounced back from a 6-3 drubbing at Carolina 24 hours earlier that included the Hurricanes chasing U.S. Olympic goaltender Jake Oettinger, winning for the first time since Dec. 21.
Faksa put Dallas up 1-0 just over three minutes in with Ilya Lyubushkin in the penalty box for holding, cashing in on his own rebound off Washington netminder Logan Thompson. Early in the second period, Canadian Olympic defenseman Thomas Harley made the play to set up Sam Steel's net-front tap-in past Thompson
Steel assisted on Wyatt Johnston's goal, his 24th of the season, with 6:29 left in regulation. Roope Hintz sealed it with an empty-netter with 18.6 seconds remaining.
Before that, Alex Ovechkin scored his 915th career goal, adding to his NHL record total, with 2:19 left and Thompson pulled for an extra attacker. It was Ovechkin's 18th goal of the season at age 40.
Thompson, also named to Canada's team for the upcoming Games in Milan, allowed three goals on 36 shots. Washington was playing without injured forwards Tom Wilson and Aliaksei Protas.
The Capitals, who were coming off beating Anaheim 7-4 on Monday night, have lost three of four and six of their past nine games.
Stars: Visit the San Jose Sharks on Saturday to begin a four-game Western swing that includes three stops in California and the last at Utah.
Capitals: Visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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