Henri Jokiharju, Casey Mittelstadt and Tage Thompson scored for Buffalo. Dustin Tokarski made 29 saves and dropped to 0-4-1 on the season.
Tokarski hasn’t won since the journeyman backup stopped 25 shots in Montreal’s 3-1 victory over Ottawa on Dec. 12, 2015.
Both teams were playing on consecutive nights. Washington bounced back from a 4-2 loss to Boston that dropped the Capitals into second place in the East Division, two points behind the New York Islanders. Buffalo was coming off a 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils.
The Capitals jumped to a 2-0 lead 11:39 in on goals by Dillon and Ovechkin, who scored when his intended pass for Tom Wilson in front banked in off of Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin.