Ovechkin scores his 858th goal and two assists in the Capitals’ 6-3 win over the Canadiens.

WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin scored his 858th career goal and added two assists and the Washington Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-3 on Thursday night, continuing their strong start.

Ovechkin is now 37 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record. After Caden Primeau became the 176th goalie he’s scored against, Ovechkin’s 45 points this season puts him on pace for 895 this spring, possibly higher.

Before scoring with 7:33 left in the third period, Ovechkin scored on goals from Tom Wilson and Alexei Protas. Wilson ended his power play drought by going 0-for-22 with his team-best sixth goal of the season.

Brandon Duhaime and Jakub Vrana scored less than a minute apart and new father Connor McMichael also scored for the Capitals, who improved to 7-2-0. They last won seven of their first nine games in the 2015/16 season.

Montreal’s Cole Caufield scored his 10th goal to tie New Jersey captain Nico Hischier for the league lead. Brendan Gallagher and Nick Suzuki scored the other goals for the Canadiens, while Primo stopped 28 shots.

Takeaway

Canadiens: After coach Martin St. Louis mixed up his schemes in an 8-2 home loss to Seattle, this was the best effort. It also helped guards Kaiden Guhle and Justin Burrow recover from injury.

Capitals: The sample size is no longer too small. The Caps may be considered playoff contenders after making several acquisitions this offseason.

Key Point

Charlie Lindgren made the biggest of his 13 saves, stopping Caufield on a long penalty in the third that came after Washington had gone up 5-3.

Key Statistics

The Capitals have scored three or more goals in eight of nine games.

Next

The Capitals host Columbus on Saturday and the Canadiens visit Pittsburgh.