NHL-best Capitals beat the defending champion Panthers 6-3 for their 4th consecutive win

WASHINGTON (AP) - Tom Wilson scored his 31st goal of the season, Alex Ovechkin had a pair of assists and the Washington Capitals beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers 6-3 on Saturday to win their fourth game in a row and pad their lead atop the NHL.

Wilson set up Connor McMichael’s opening goal in the first period before scoring his own 7 seconds after the ensuing intermission. Dylan Strome scoring 52 seconds later made it eight goals combined between the teams in the first 21 minutes of a high-event game largely lacking in defense.

Anthony Beauvillier, John Carlson and Andrew Mangiapane also scored for the Capitals, who were the first team in the league to clinch a playoff spot and have won nine of their last 10. Logan Thompson made 33 saves to improve to 31-4-5 in his first season with Washington.

Ovechkin had five shots on net but remained at 888 career goals, seven back of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record.

Sam Bennett, Seth Jones and Jonah Gadjovich scored for the short-handed Panthers, who are without injured winger Matthew Tkachuk and suspended defenseman Aaron Ekblad and are awaiting trade deadline acquisition Brad Marchand to debut. Vitek Vanecek allowed six goals on 31 shots.

Panthers: They missed an opportunity to separate themselves from Toronto in the Atlantic Division. Whoever finishes second has to face Tampa Bay in the first round.

Capitals: With a big lead atop the Eastern Conference, they showed they can win while fiddling around with some things before the playoffs.

Wilson and Strome scoring in the first minute of the second shifted the previously back-and-forth game in the Caps’ favor.

Ovechkin has seven assists in six games.

The Panthers host Pittsburgh on Sunday, while the Capitals visit West-leading Winnipeg on Tuesday night in a matchup of the top two teams in the league.