The Washington Capitals got another starring performance from their captain en route to a 5-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators. Good to go into the first game of the season against the Penguins on a high note.
The Caps out-shot the Sens 37 to 28, but were out-attempted at five-on-five 50 to 40.
- The Caps overall were pretty good five-on-five in this one…outside of that atrocious second period. I maligned the power play enough in the recap and just don’t feel like going into it anymore than I already did, but the amount of shorthanded goals against lately is just utterly ridiculous.
- Alex Ovechkin is the greatest goal scorer of all time. His 694th and 695th career goals tied and then passed Mark Messier for eighth all time in NHL goal scoring. Ovi is now also tied for the current season league lead in goals with David Pastrnak at 37 after this recent 11 goals in five game rampage. This is the first time in his career that he has scored 10 goals over a span of five appearances.
- John Carlson earned two assists in the game, pushing him past Calle Johansson for the all time franchise lead in assists from a defenseman.
Alex Ovechkin of the @Capitals is the second player in NHL history 34 or older to score 11 goals in a span of five appearances, joining Joe Mullen (Dec. 17-26, 1991 w/ PIT). #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/vvqyJYZyIw
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 1, 2020
- Ilya Samsonov became the third rookie goaltender in NHL history to earn a win in 11-plus consecutive decisions, joining Ross Brooks (14-0-0 in 1973-74) and George Hainsworth (11-0-0 in 1926-27).
- Tom Wilson is now on a six game point streak that sees him on pace for over 25 goals and 60 points this season.
- Fantastic night from the first line overall as at five-on-five with them on the ice the Caps controlled 72.7-percent of the shot attempts, 78.6-percent of the scoring chances, and held a plus-six high danger chance differential (plus-6, minus-0).
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Senators
Headline photo: NBC Sports Washington
