WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 20th goal and assisted on another, helping the Washington Capitals snap their recent run of futility against the San Jose Sharks with a 4-1 victory Monday night.

The Capitals beat the Sharks for the fourth time in 18 meetings since Ovechkin entered the league in 2005-06. It’s just Washington’s second regulation win against San Jose in that time and first since Oct. 15, 2009.

The win came at a cost: T.J. Oshie left in the second period because of an upper-body injury and didn’t return.

Ovechkin continued his climb up the career list with his 578th goal, passing Hall of Famer Mark Recchi for 20th place. He’s the 11th player in NHL history to score at least 20 goals in each of his first 13 seasons.

ISLANDERS 5, PANTHERS 4: Mathew Barzal scored in a shootout to lift the Islanders to a win at Sunrise, Florida.

Jaroslav Halak made 39 saves for the Islanders and stopped all three attempts in the shootout.

Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo was injured in the second period when he stretched out his right leg to block a shot by Ryan Pulock. He was helped off the ice by trainers and wasn’t able to put any weight on the leg.

NOTES

SABRES: Buffalo placed forward Matt Moulson on waivers and acquired forward Scott Wilson in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings.

In exchange for Wilson, the Red Wings acquired Buffalo’s fifth-round pick in the 2019 draft.

Moulson will be assigned to the minors if he clears waivers. He’s an 11-year veteran who is in the fourth year of a $25 million contract, but he has no points in 14 games this season and has been a healthy scratch in seven of Buffalo’s last nine games.

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