SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Alex Ovechkin scored twice to extend his record to 911 career goals, Ryan Leonard had four points and the Washington Capitals beat the San Jose Sharks 7-1 on Wednesday night for their sixth straight win.
Ovechkin started a four-goal barrage in the first period when he scored on a rebound near the side of the net midway. He added a power-play goal in the second to give him 14 goals on the season and 10 in the past 11 games.
Washington got plenty of help, getting goals from Sonny Milano, Leonard, Brandon Duhaime later in the period to knock out Yaroslav Askarov and help extend the team's longest winning streak since also winning six straight in January last season.
Leonard finished with two goals and two assists and Dylan Strome also scored for Washington.
Charlie Lindgren made 23 saves and added his second career assist for the Capitals.
Pavol Regenda scored his second goal since being called up from the AHL earlier this week when he converted on the power play in the third period to cut the deficit to 7-1 and deny Lindgren the shutout.
Askarov had won nine of his last 11 starts, allowing two goals or fewer in eight of those wins. But this was the second time in the past eight days that he was knocked out early after getting replaced early in the second period last Wednesday in Colorado after allowing four goals.
Askarov made eight saves and Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 15 of 18 shots in relief.
The Sharks had won seven of their last eight home games but were never in this game after Ovechkin got the scoring barrage started.
Ovechkin's goal in the second gave him 181 career muiltigoal games — eight shy of Wayne Gretzky's record.
Capitals: At Anaheim on Friday.
Sharks: At Dallas on Friday.
This story has been corrected to fix Ryan Leonard’s first name.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
San Jose Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov (30) stops a shot during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates his hat trick against the Montreal Canadiens with teammates Dylan Strome (17) and Anthony Beauvillier (72) during third period NHL hockey action in Montreal on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin reacts following his goal over the Montreal Canadiens during first-period NHL hockey game action in Montreal, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran responded to U.S. President Donald Trump’s address to Americans on the war with new missile attacks targeting Israel and the Gulf Arab states Thursday, underlining Tehran’s insistence that it rejected Washington’s outreach for a ceasefire while maintaining its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.
Britain planned to hold a call Thursday with nearly three dozen countries about how to reopen the strait, through which 20% of all oil and natural gas traded passes in peacetime. The 35 countries, including all G7 industrialized democracies except the U.S., as well as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, signed a declaration last month demanding Iran stop blocking the strait. The call will discuss “diplomatic and political measures” that could restore shipping once the fighting is over.
Washington has insisted that Iran allow ships to freely transit the strait, but Trump this week has said it is not up to the U.S. to force it, and in his address encouraged countries that receive oil through Hormuz to “build some delayed courage” and go “take it.”
In his address, Trump said the U.S. would hit Iran “extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” while also insisting American “core strategic objectives are nearing completion.”
Iran's military said defiantly on Thursday that its armament facilities are hidden and will never be reached by Israeli or American attacks.
“The centers you think you have targeted are insignificant,” said Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for the Iranian military’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.
Just before Trump began his nearly 20-minute address on Wednesday, explosions were heard in Dubai as air defenses worked to intercept an Iranian missile barrage. Less than a half hour after the president was done, Israel said its military was working to intercept incoming missiles.
Sirens sounded in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, immediately after the speech.
Following a joint statement in March condemning Iranian attacks on unarmed commercial vessels that called upon Iran to “cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the strait,” the 35 signatories were to hold a virtual meeting Thursday hosted by British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.
Though the oil and gas that typically transits the Strait of Hormuz primarily is sold to Asian nations, Japan and South Korea were the only two countries from the region that were joining.
“Trump’s message was that the United States can sustain its own economic and energy ecosystem, while countries dependent on regional exports will either have to buy from the United States or manage the Strait themselves,” the New York-based Soufan Center think tank wrote after the address.
“While Trump explicitly thanked U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf for their cooperation and allyship, an expedited U.S. withdrawal without securing the strait will leave many of these countries, whose economies are dependent on energy exports, in the lurch.”
No country appears willing to try and open the strait by force while the war is raging. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the group “will assess all viable diplomatic and political measures we can take to restore freedom of navigation, guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers and to resume the movement of vital commodities.”
Bahrain, which now holds the presidency of the United Nations Security Council, has been working to get the world body to address the crisis as well.
Though Iran has allowed a trickle of ships through the strait, it remains largely closed. Iran has also been repeatedly attacking Gulf Arab energy infrastructure, sending oil prices skyrocketing and giving rise to broader economic problems worldwide.
Following Trump's speech, Brent crude, the international standard, rose again and was at $108 in early spot trading, up nearly 50% from Feb. 28 when Israel and the U.S. started the war with their attacks on Iran.
The rising energy prices and stock market jitters have been putting increasing domestic pressure on Trump, who used his address to offer a defense of the war while also suggesting it was close to winding down.
He acknowledged American service members who had been killed and said: “We are going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast. We’re getting very close.”
The U.S. has presented Iran with a 15-point plan for a ceasefire, but Trump didn’t say anything about the diplomatic efforts or bring up his April 6 deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face severe retaliation from the U.S.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran during the war, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
More than 1,200 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million displaced, according to authorities. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.
Weissert reported from Washington and Rising reported from Bangkok.
The Indian flagged LPG carrier Jag Vasant transporting liquefied petroleum gas, is seen at the Mumbai Port in Mumbai, India, after it arrived clearing the Strait of Hormuz, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump walks from the Blue Room to speak about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
