Anthony Mantha scored twice in a 34-second stretch in the second period and added two assists to lift the visiting Washington Capitals to an 8-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

Defenseman Dmitry Orlov secured a career-high four-point performance (one goal, three assists) in his return from a lower-body injury for Washington, which improved to 17-1-2 in its last 20 trips to Montreal.

Nic Dowd collected a goal and an assist, captain Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, Garnet Hathaway and defenseman Justin Schultz also tallied and Vitek Vanecek made 28 saves for the Capitals (42-23-10, 94 points).

A winner of five of its last six contests, Washington moved within three points of third-place Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan Division with two games in hand. The Penguins dropped a 2-1 decision to the Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon.

Ryan Poehling scored twice and Jake Evans and Nick Suzuki also tallied for the Canadiens (20-45-11, 51 points), who have lost five in a row.

Mantha tapped home a loose puck following his own shot to give Washington a 2-1 lead at 8:03 of the second period. He didn't wait long to double the advantage, converting on a breakaway for his ninth goal of the season.

Poehling halved the deficit just 14 seconds later, however, Ovechkin answered from the slot with 4:24 remaining in the period. Ovechkin's goal was his team-leading 47th of the season, one shy of Hall of Famer Teemu Selanne for the most by a player aged 36 or older in NHL history.

Poehling trimmed the Capitals' lead to 4-3 at 2:22 of the third period, however Hathaway backhanded the puck between the pads of Sam Montembeault (33 saves) just 46 seconds later. Orlov tallied at 4:30 to send Washington on its way.

The Capitals drew first blood after Dowd deflected Orlov's shot with 7:37 remaining in the first period. Dowd's goal was his 10th of the season and second in as many games.

The Canadiens leveled the contest 1:56 into the second period after Evans unleashed a blast from the right circle that sailed past Vanecek.

--Field Level Media