In overtime with the Chicago Blackhawks, Alex Ovechkin flirted with sudden victory a few times, but it was Marcus Johansson who finally broke through, felling the Hawks 3-2 in overtime.
It came with an assist from some bad United Center ice and TJ Oshie’s rump.
Marian Hossa managed to force overtime with a goal in the final 30 seconds, but once 3-on-3 overtime began, it was all Washington.
Alex Ovechkin, who had been quiet all night, buzzed Corey Crawford’s net with some near misses.
But the OT hero was Marcus Johansson.
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Johansson's OT-GWG! #Caps win! #CapsHawks #RockTheRed pic.twitter.com/N3GKNLt6Da
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 12, 2016
First Mojo defused an attack by Brent Seabrook at the other end of the ice. Then he skated the puck up towards Chicago net. That’s when something fortunate happened for the Capitals.
As TJ Oshie skated into the neutral zone (top right), he wiped out, either because he caught an edge or there was a sniper in the third row.
As Oshie flipped over twice, he unintentionally took out forward Vinnie Hinostroza, springing Johansson and Orlov on a two-on-one.
Orly hit Johansson with a perfect pass and the Swedish forward unleashed a blistering one-timer past Corey Crawford. Game over.
Johansson has 7 goals in this young season. He’ll earn $4.25 million this year, which for a moment we might have thought was too much.