Alex Ovechkin made a mistake that led to an Oilers goal. Twenty-six seconds later, he made amends.
After getting stripped by Zach Hyman of the puck at the tail end of a Capitals power play and allowing Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to score on a two-on-one, Ovechkin came out on the ice for a power play seconds later and scored from his office.
The goal was Ovechkin’s 788th career goal, inching him ever-so-close to the 800-goal plateau and Gordie Howe.
The goal came five seconds after the power play began. Kuzy won a faceoff directly back to Erik Gustafsson, who dished it over to Ovi on the wing. The Capitals’ captain skated the puck to the left circle and unleashed a wrister that beat Oilers’ goaltender Stuart Skinner clean to the far side of the net.
He is inevitable pic.twitter.com/kAQAB2jUx3
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 8, 2022
Skinner is the 163rd different NHL goaltender Ovechkin has scored on in his career. It’s the third consecutive game Ovi has scored on a new goalie.
Ovechkin's goal marks his first career goal against Stuart Skinner, the 163rd different goaltender Ovechkin has scored on in his career. Ovechkin has scored against a new goaltender in three consecutive games (also Nov. 3 at DET: Ville Husso & Nov. 5 vs. ARI: Karel Vejmelka).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) November 8, 2022
It marks the seventh instance in Ovechkin’s career in which he has scored against a new goaltender in three or more consecutive games and the first since Nov. 24-28, 2008 (Niklas Backstrom, Ondrej Pavelec & Jaroslav Halak).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) November 8, 2022
Skinner, a rookie, was looking forward to playing against Ovi pregame.
“He’s an unbelievable player,” Skinner said. “He’s got one of the best shots in the league if not the best shot in the league. He’s scoring 50 every year still. He’s an unbelievable player. Credit to him and I can’t wait to see the shot.”
I’m pretty sure he didn’t see that one.
Ovechkin now trails Gordie Howe (801) by 13 and Wayne Gretzky by 106 in the NHL’s all-time goals list.
Don’t look now, but after a slow start, Ovi now has 8 goals in 14 games and 5 in his last 6.
OVI GOAL pic.twitter.com/2z8zbAYAaH
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 8, 2022
