The Washington Capitals went down one goal to the very bad Ottawa Senators and then never looked back from there. With six unanswered goals, the home team sent their fans home happy with a 6-1 win.
The Caps out-shot the Sens 41 to 27 and out-attempted them at five-on-five 57 to 51.
- The Caps overcame what I would call a far too “comfortable” first period in which they kinda seemed to coast against a notably bad opponent. They fixed that with a dominant second period at five-on-five and then two more quick goals in the third to really put the bow on this one. I don’t like the recent first period efforts though. Fix that, please.
- Alex Ovechkin is back to turning on the red light. His two goal night gives him 684 career markers, tying him with Teemu Selanne for 11th all time. After Selanne the next legend in Ovi’s sights is Mario Lemieux at 690 career goals.
- With an assist on Ovi’s second goal, John Carlson passed Peter Bondra (353) for eighth most assists in franchise history. On the season, John now has 41 assists in only 44 games played. He set his career high in assists last season with 57 in 80 games played.
With the win against the Senators, Ilya Samsonov improves to 12 2-1 this season and has now won seven straight games. Additionally, Samsonov becomes the first goaltender in franchise history to record 12 wins within his first 14 starts.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 8, 2020
- Lars Eller has found his goal scoring touch, putting a puck in the net three straight games now. TJ Oshie is also riding a four game point streak and Evgeny Kuznetsov has a six game point streak of his own.
- Another very nice, active night from the best fourth line in hockey. With those three hooligans on the ice, the Caps controlled 60-percent of the shot attempts and scoring chances. The Sens got no offense with those three dudes skating at even strength.
- The Caps next test comes tomorrow against a somewhat spiraling Flyers team that also will be taking on the back half of a back-to-back. Philadelphia has lost four straight games and have given up five or more goals in all four of those losses (Hurricanes, Coyotes, Golden Knights, Kings).
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Senators
Headline photo: NBC Sports Washington
