San Jose Sharks defenseman Jaycob Megna knocks over Washington Capitals center Nic Dowd in front of Sharks goaltender James Reimer in the first period Wednesday night in Washington. Evan Vucci/Associated Press

WASHINGTON — James Reimer made 32 saves, Jonathan Dahlen scored in one of his dad’s old home arenas and the San Jose Sharks beat the Washington Capitals 4-1 on Wednesday night to snap a two-game losing streak.

Reimer stopped Alex Ovechkin eight times and was San Jose’s best penalty killer when Washington came up empty on four power plays.

Noah Gregor scored his second goal of the season and Nicolas Meloche had the first of his NHL career to help get the Sharks’ four-game East Coast trip off on the right foot. San Jose kept pace in the Western Conference playoff race, moving within three points of Anaheim, which sits in second place in the Pacific Division.

Dahlen scored to make it 3-1 with 3:09 left, his second goal in 22 games. His father, Ulf Dahlen, played two seasons from 1999-2001 for the Capitals late in his NHL career.

Andrew Cogliano sealed it with an empty-netter with 21 seconds left. San Jose’s Jonah Gadjovich and Washington’s Garnet Hathaway dropped the gloves for a lengthy fight at the buzzer.

FLAMES 6, BLUE JACKETS 0: Matthew Tkachuk scored twice and visiting Calgary fired a team-record 62 shots on goal in trouncing Columbus.

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Jacob Markstrom made 23 saves for his 13th career shutout, sending the Blue Jackets to their third straight loss and fourth in a row at home. Calgary bombarded Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins, who stopped 56 shots.

Andrew Mangiapane, Mikael Backlund, Elias Lindholm and Erik Gudbranson added goals for the Flames, who have won 3 of 4. Johnny Gaudreau had three assists.

MAPLE LEAFS 4, DUCKS 3: Auston Matthews scored the shootout winner and Toronto got three power-play goals to beat visiting Anaheim.

Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares all scored with the man advantage to give Toronto a two-goal lead.

But a late goal in the second period by Jakob Silfverberg and another from Ducks forward Vinni Lettieri with 6:37 remaining in the third sent the game to overtime.

BLACKHAWKS 8, RED WINGS 5: Dylan Strome scored three goals and visiting Chicago had its highest-scoring game of the season.

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Alex DeBrincat added two third-period goals for the Blackhawks, who led 4-0 in the first period but twice allowed Detroit to get within one goal. DeBrincat’s empty-netter with 1:43 remaining finally put the game away as Chicago ended a four-game losing streak.

NOTES

PENGUINS: Jeff Carter agreed to a two-year contract extension that runs through the 2023-24 season. The deal carries an average annual value of $3.125 million.

The 37-year-old Carter, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Los Angeles Kings, has flourished since arriving at the trade deadline last spring. He scored nine goals in 14 games following his acquisition and doesn’t appear to be slowing down in his 17th season.

Carter is one of seven active players with 400 career goals. He has 12 goals and 14 assists in 36 games this season for the Penguins, who have won 17 of 19 to move into second place in the Metropolitan Division at the season’s midway point.

CANUCKS: Jim Rutherford says there are some big decisions looming for the Vancouver Canucks, but the team’s president of hockey operations has crossed one large task off his to-do list – he hired Patrick Allvin as general manager.

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Allvin became the 12th GM in franchise history. He had served as assistant GM for the Pittsburgh Penguins since November 2020..

Allvin, 47, had been with the Penguins for the past 16 seasons and was director of amateur scouting before he was promoted. He’s the first Swede to become a general manager in the NHL.

The move to Vancouver reunites Allvin with Rutherford, who served as Pittsburgh GM from 2014-21 and helped lead the team to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016-17. Allvin briefly served as interim general manager last season after Rutherford resigned.

SABRES: The Buffalo Sabres’ injury-depleted goalie ranks were thinned further after the NHL issued Aaron Dell a three-game suspension for body-checking Ottawa forward Drake Batherson into the end boards.

In determining the length of the suspension, the NHL took into account that Batherson broke his left ankle after being shoved by Dell late in the first period of Ottawa’s 5-0 win on Tuesday night.

Buffalo is already missing four goalies due to injury. Dell’s suspension means the team will likely need to sign another netminder before leaving for a three-game western swing starting at Arizona on Saturday.

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Dell was not penalized for the hit. The NHL suspended the goalie by ruling he interfered with Batherson by initiating contact.

Batherson needed assistance to be helped off the ice. The rookie was scheduled to represent the Senators at the All-Star Game next week, with his spot now replaced by teammate Brady Tkachuk.

Batherson had scored his team-leading 13th goal earlier in the period.

Senators Coach D.J. Smith called the hit dangerous.

The suspension will cost Dell $11,250 in salary.

Minus Dell, Michael Houser is Buffalo’s lone goalie.

Season-opening starter Craig Anderson, who has missed 32 games with an upper-body injury, has resumed skating but likely won’t be available until after the trip. Dustin Tokarski has missed 20 games while recovering from COVID-19 and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (lower body) and Malcolm Subban (upper body) have each missed seven games since both were hurt in a 6-1 loss to Tampa Bay on Jan. 11.

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