NHL: Washington 6, Atlanta 4

WASHINGTON, April 5 (UPI) -- The Washington Capitals, led by Brooks Laich with a goal and two assists, scored four times in the third period Sunday to beat the Atlanta Thrashers 6-4.

Tomas Fleischmann, Keith Aucoin, Michael Nylander, Eric Fehr and Alexander Semin also scored for Washington, which holds second place in the Eastern Conference playoff chase, two points ahead of New Jersey.

Colby Armstrong, Jim Slater, Ilya Kovalchuk and Slava Kozlov accounted for the Thrashers' scoring.

Caps' goalie Jose Theodore recorded his 31st victory of the season, blocking 20 Atlanta shots.

Johan Hedberg had 27 saves for Atlanta, which had won its previous four games.