WASHINGTON — A change of scenery did nothing to help the Ducks end their slump.
Justin Sourdif scored his first NHL hat trick and added two assists, as the Washington Capitals built a four-goal lead before needing two empty-net goals to secure a 7-4 win on Monday night, handing the Ducks their sixth straight loss.
Alex Ovechkin scored twice, Ryan Leonard had a goal and an assist, John Carlson also scored and Connor McMichael had four assists for the Capitals (22-15-6), who ended a two-game slide. Charlie Lindgren made 41 saves in the win.
Chris Kreider, Alex Killorn, Jacob Trouba and Beckett Sennecke scored for the Ducks (21-18-3), who have lost 10 of their past 12. Petr Mrazek stopped 19 of 24 shots through two periods in his first start since Nov. 30. He was replaced by Lukas Dostal to start the third, and Dostal stopped all three shots he faced.
“We did a lot of good things,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville told NHL.com. “This was one of those games where we left some on the table, but it kind of shows when you’re having trouble winning games eventually games like this give you an indication that you’ve got to get out of this pretty soon.”
Kreider opened the scoring with a one-timer from the right circle off a cross-ice pass from Olen Zellweger just 6:33 into the first period, ending a 15-game goal drought.
The 23-year-old Sourdif evened the score, firing home a drop pass from Connor McMichael in the slot. Three minutes later, the Ducks turned the puck over coming through the neutral zone and the rookie struck again, beating Mrazek glove side with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle to give Washington a 2-1 lead going into the second.
Sourdif picked up where he left off, finding Ryan Leonard, who banked in a shot off Mrazek to make it 3-1. Just 1:36 later, Leonard returned the favor, setting up Sourdif with a backdoor pass for a tap-in for his third goal of the game. Ovechkin then rifled home a wrister from the left circle to end a four-game goal drought and give the hosts a 5-1 lead near the midpoint of the second period.
Sourdif is the ninth rookie in franchise history to get a hat trick and the first since Jan. 13, 2006, when Ovechkin did it against the Ducks in Anaheim.
“I can’t even remember,” Sourdif told NHL.com of recording five points in a game previously. “I don’t even know if I had a five-point night in junior, so it might have been a while ago. I think midget maybe when I was 15. It’s been a while, but it was pretty cool.”
Ducks forward Ryan Strome failed to convert a penalty shot at 11:51 of the second, but the Ducks scored twice before the end of the period and the Capitals missed a penalty shot of their own.
Killorn scored from the right circle off a turnover in the Washington zone to cut it to 5-2 at 12:56. After Trouba made it 5-3 at 14:12 with a shot from the right point, Leonard hit the post with a backhand try on his penalty shot at 18:16.
“I thought we were playing a little more on our toes, a little more aggressive,” Trouba said of the Ducks’ comeback effort. “We sustained some O-zone time and we were defending less.”
Sennecke swept a loose puck into the net as he was falling in the high slot to cut the lead to 5-4 at 9:22 of the third, his third goal in three games and his 14th of the season to lead NHL rookies.
“Get a chance early (in the third period) and we score,” Quenneville told NHL.com. “Got a lot of time to tie it up or maybe do something else.”
The Ducks couldn’t find an equalizer despite outshooting Washington 17-5 in the third period, and Carlson scored into an empty net with 1:14 left and Ovechkin did the same with 42 seconds remaining.
Quenneville said Mrazek was pulled because of an injury, adding “I don’t think it’s serious.”
The Capitals were without Tom Wilson, who was named to Canada’s Olympic roster on Wednesday, and Aliaksei Protas, with both players listed as day-to-day.
UP NEXT
The Ducks continue their four-game road trip in Philadelphia on Tuesday at 4 p.m. PT.