Tkachuk helps power Ottawa's offence over Washington

Brady Tkachuk scored his team-leading 15th goal and added an assist, Connor Brown also had a goal and an assist and the Ottawa Senators completed a long-awaited 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.

Chris Tierney had two assists. Anton Forsberg made 33 saves in Ottawa's first victory in Washington since Jan. 21, 2014.

"Everybody stepped up. Everybody elevated their game," Tkachuk said of a win that followed two consecutive scoreless defeats. "Obviously we weren't happy with bits and pieces of our last two games."

Nicklas Backstrom scored in the second period for the Capitals, who have now lost five straight in regulation at home and 11 of 17 overall.

"Last couple weeks, we haven't played with the flow that we did earlier," Backstrom said. "I just think that everything needs to be better. I don't know what it is, but I feel like we've just got to relax and try to play our game here."

Ilya Samsonov stopped 22 of the 26 shots he faced for Washington, which is not yet in jeopardy of missing the postseason despite its recent struggles.

The Capitals hold an 11-point lead over Detroit for the second Eastern Conference wild-card payoff berth and are three points back of the New York Rangers for the third automatic berth in the Metropolitan division.

"We're still up and down," said Capitals coach Peter Laviolette. "That's definitely not where we want to be. I think we expect more of ourselves. It's disappointing again, being here in our building in front of our fans. So we've got to be better than that."

Formenton hammered a one-timer off Brown's feed past Samsonov to open the scoring on Ottawa's fourth short-handed goal and Washington's seventh allowed.

The Capitals are now tied with the LA Kings for the second-most short-handed goals conceded.

"That's something that has happened way too many times this year," Backstrom said.

The Senators went a sixth consecutive game without scoring on the power play (14 opportunities), this time despite playing a total of 1:50 of 5-on-3 hockey across two separate chances.

It's Ottawa's longest such drought in terms of games this season.

Watson suspended for 2 games

Ottawa Senators forward Austin Watson has been suspended two games by the NHL's department of player safety for a hit on Boston's Jack Ahcan.

Watson levelled Ahcan along the end boards midway through the first period of Ottawa's 2-0 loss to Boston on Saturday.

He was handed a two-minute minor penalty for interference.

Watson, 30, will forfeit $15,000 US in salary, with the money going to the player's emergency assistance fund.