Alex Ovechkin reached 30 goals for the 16th season as the visiting Washington Capitals defeated the Nashville Predators 4-1 on Tuesday night for their fourth straight road win.

Ovechkin scored his 30th and 31st goals, passing Jaromir Jagr (15 seasons with 30 or more goals) and is second only to Mike Gartner (17).

Joe Snively and Nick Jensen also scored for Washington. Ilya Samsonov made 33 saves.

Capitals coach Peter Laviolette became the 10th coach in NHL history to reach the 700-win milestone. He ranks third among active head coaches in wins, trailing Barry Trotz (894) and Lindy Ruff (772).

Laviolette previously coached the Predators (2014-2020), and it was his first game in Nashville since his dismissal in January of 2020.

Michael McCarron scored Tuesday for the Predators, who have lost four of their past five games. Juuse Saros made 24 saves.

Roman Josi's rebound deflected in off a falling McCarron to tie the score 1-1 at 2:43 of the third period, but Washington regained the lead 44 seconds later when Garnet Hathaway finished a pretty passing sequence by sliding the puck to a wide-open Nick Jensen, who scored from the low slot.

Ovechkin made it 3-1 at 4:33 when he ended a six-game streak without a goal, scoring on a one-timer from the left circle on a power play, and he added an empty-net goal with 1:23 remaining for the 4-1 final.

Ovechkin, 36, has 761 career goals and trails Jagr by five for third place.

Snively gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 4:17 of the first period when he received a cross-ice pass from Conor Sheary on the rush and tucked it in.

The Capitals have scored first in eight straight road games (5-2-1).

Nashville appeared to tie it on a breakaway shot by Luke Kunin at 17:02 of the second period. However, a video review showed that Kunin's shot hit the crossbar and did not go in.

Josi hit the post in the opening minute of the third period.

Washington was forced to play with five defensemen after Justin Schultz left in the first period with an upper-body injury.

--Field Level Media