Stars 3, Capitals 2
WASHINGTON -- Center Jason Spezza scored the go-ahead goal with 8:50 left to play and the Dallas Stars defeated the Washington Capitals 3-2 on Thursday night despite Alex Ovechkin setting an NHL career goal-scoring mark for Russian-born players.
Spezza blocked a clearing pass deep in the Washington zone, controlled the puck and fired past goaltender Philipp Grubauer to break a 2-2 tie with his eighth goal of the season.
Ovechkin had tied it when he scored his 484th career goal earlier in the period, surpassing Sergei Fedorov for the most NHL goals by a Russian-born player.
Centers Tyler Seguin and Cody Eakin also scored for Dallas, which got 33 saves from Kari Lehtonen. Defenseman John Klingberg had two assists.
Dallas has won four straight and seven-of-eight overall. They improved their road record to 9-2.
Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and an assist for Washington (12-5-1), which has lost eight straight to Dallas.
Grubauer stopped 28 shots.
Dallas (16-4-0) took a 2-1 lead at 4:45 of the third period when Klingberg wristed a shot toward the net from the point, and Eakin redirected it home.
Less than three minutes later, Ovechkin made history and tied the game with his ninth goal of the season.
Ovechkin, who in the second period had hit the post, jammed home a pretty backhand feed from Backstrom at 7:01 of the third period, earning a standing ovation from the Verizon Center crowd.
The goal ended a frustrating stretch that saw Ovechkin go four games without a point and twice have potential record-breaking goals disallowed on goaltender interference calls.
Dallas took a 1-0 lead at 9:28 of the first period when Klingberg dropped a pass back to Seguin in the slot and he fired past a screened Grubauer for his 11th of the season.
Capitals head coach Barry Trotz challenged the goal, saying left winger Patrick Sharp interfered with Grubauer as he set the screen but, after a replay review, the goal was upheld.
Washington got the equalizer with 2:20 left in the period when defenseman Taylor Chorney's blast from the point caromed off the boards back out in front. Backstrom backhanded the puck, which went across the slot and deflected off defenseman Jordie Benn into the net.
Lehtonen preserved the tie early in the second period with a pad save on right winger Tom Wilson alone in front.
Washington's biggest save in the period came via center Evgeny Kuznetsov.
With Grubauer behind the net, the puck caromed out in front to Dallas center Mattias Janmark. As Janmark fired on the open net, Kuznetsov moved in front and blocked the shot with his foot.
NOTES: Washington D Brooks Orpik (lower body injury) missed his fourth straight game and RW Stanislav Galiev was a healthy scratch. ... LW Travis Moen and D Jamie Oleksiak were healthy scratches for Dallas. ... C Brooks Laich played his 700th game for the Capitals. ... Stars D Alex Goligoski played his 500th NHL game. ... Capitals D Matt Niskanen was drafted by Dallas in the first round in 2005 and played four seasons with the Stars. ... Dallas C Cody Eakin was a third-round draft pick by Washington in 2009. ... The teams' second and final regular-season meeting is Feb. 13 in Dallas.