Photo: Jacquelyn Martin
On the 27th Capitals shot of the game, Alex Ovechkin fired a puck from the far circle on the power play. At 30, Ovechkin became the fifth-fastest player to reach 500 goals in National Hockey League history. His teammates poured over the bench in recognition of the greatest player in Washington’s 41 year history. The game, and the league, stopped to take notice. The Senators filed off the ice to one of the loudest ovations in Verizon Center history as Ovechkin raised his arms in triumph. In the third, Ovechkin became the league leader in goals with his 26th score of the season and the 501st of his career.
Some other stuff happened in the game that I will now talk about.
The Caps dominated the game at the drop, striking first eight minutes into the game after Andre Burakovsky, who is good again, set up Justin Williams for his second goal is as many games. Less than three minutes later TJ Oshie extended the lead to two with a PPG. The Caps coasted after that, twice going on the penalty kill, but survived unscathed.
In the second, Ottawa got on the board after a colossal offensive zone screw up by the second line led to Mike Hoffman’s 20th goal of the season on a two-on-one.
Zach Sill, Washington’s actual third line center, was able to put the Sens back on their heels after Ottawa’s netminder Andrew Hammond whiffed on a pop-up in front. Dmitry Orlov made it 4-1 114 seconds later with a rocket from the far circle.
Tom Wilson added another, bookended by Ovechkin two historic tallies. Caps beat Sens 7-1!
- Alex Ovechkin tried really, really hard to get his 500th career goal. Ovi had nine shot attempts, four shots on goal, two breakaways, and a shot that rung the crossbar before hitting 500. The only thing he didn’t have was luck. But none of that will be remembered. At 16:19 of the second period, fittingly on the power play, the 2004 first overall pick scored in his 801st career game, assisted by the oldest and the youngest players on the roster. He added another amazing goal in the game’s closing period. He leads the league in goals with 26, more halfway to 50 goals for sixth time in his career. This night will be remembered.
- Philipp Grubauer was called into action on the second game of the back-to-back. The game wasn’t close, but Grubauer had a lot to do with that. Ottawa had 18 shots at the halfway mark, many from point-blank, but Grubauer was only beaten by one fantastic shot. Grubi always makes things look dramatic compared to the positionally brilliant Braden Holtby, but he got things done nonetheless. Grubauer hadn’t more than two goals of run support since his first start of the season, but he had plenty of support against Ottawa. Thirty-two saves for the young German. Good for him.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov continues his offensive masterwork this season. Through 42 games, he’s already surpassed his point total from 80 games last season with 38.
- John Carlson has now missed eight games. Without J-Car quarterbacking the power play, Matt Niskanen’s TOI has gone up around four minutes a game. Niskanen and his partner Karl Alzner once again skated big minutes, though the blowout kept things in order. That means they weren’t a possession disaster. Carlson may skate Tuesday. His return would be a big boost for the Caps, who continue to win despite a myriad of dudes you hadn’t heard of a month ago in the lineup.
- Two of those dudes, Zach Sill and Paul Carey, continued to be surprisingly decent.
- Hopefully the lineup isn’t more depleted after this one. Andre Burakovsky went down with an injury and didn’t return. He was great Sunday.
- The second line has been struggling lately, but they were probably Washington’s best Sunday night — save for that awful turnover that led to Ottawa’s only goal.
- Nate Schmidt and Dmitry Orlov were just fantastic. Schmidt had a plus-13 even-strength shot attempt differential, best on the team. Dima was second at plus-6. Orlov scored for the first time since November on his fourth shot of the game, though his game was brought down by two minors.
- Jason Chimera assisted on Ovi’s goal, his second assist of the game and his 12th of the season, matching his total from last season in 35 fewer games. He added a third on Wilson’s tally.
- Nick Backstrom is still kicking. He had three assists against Ottawa, his sixth game in a row with a helper. As usual, he leads the team in the metric.
Joe B’s historic ensemble.
Through 42 games, the Capitals have 32 wins. They have the best record in the NHL and are off to the best start in franchise history. They’ve won 10 in a row at home. Braden Holtby leads the league in wins and Alex Ovechkin leads the league in goals. Despite a heavily depleted lineup, the Capitals hit 67 points on January 10 after missing the playoffs just two years ago. They continue to improve five-on-five. And Sunday night you saw something special, the biggest milestone in the career of the greatest goal-scorer of all time.
