Ryan Leonard and Jakob Chychrun scored 1:08 apart early in the second period as the Washington Capitals defeated the visiting Seattle Kraken 4-1 Tuesday night.
Nic Dowd had a goal and an assist, Tom Wilson scored an empty-netter with 49.6 second left and goaltender Logan Thompson made 16 saves for the Capitals, who have won four of their past five games.
Jaden Schwartz tallied for Seattle and goalie Matt Murray, making his Kraken debut, stopped 30 of 33 shots. Seattle lost its second in a row and fell to 0-13 in the second game of back-to-back situations since the start of the 2024-25 season.
Dowd gave the Capitals the lead at 8:30 of the first period. The play started when Dowd checked Seattle’s Chandler Stephenson to the ice along the boards in the defensive end, starting an odd-man rush. Brandon Duhaime carried the puck into the offensive zone along the right wing boards and sent a pass back to John Carlson in the high slot. Carlson eschewed a shot and fed a wide-open Dowd near the right post and he redirected the puck past a helpless Murray.
Leonard made it 2-0 just 25 seconds into the second period. Aliaksei Protas got to a loose puck along the goal line on the left wing and poked it back to Leonard in the high slot. He spun and put a wrist shot inside the right post.
Chychrun tallied with a man-advantage at 1:33 of the second on a wrist shot from just outside the right faceoff dot after taking a cross-ice pass from Alex Ovechkin.
Schwartz thwarted Thompson’s shutout bid with a goal at 3:50 of the third. Ben Meyers’ shot from the top of the left faceoff circle went over the net but the ricochet off the glass went straight to Schwartz on the right wing and he lifted the rebound over the prone goalie.
Both teams played short-handed. The Kraken were without forwards Jared McCann (upper body), Mason Marchment (lower body) and defenseman Brandon Montour (leave of absence), while Capitals forward Pierre-Luc Dubois (lower body) missed his fourth straight game.
