Alex Ovechkin is on a torrid goal-scoring streak of late. And it’s due to his play with an opponent’s goalie pulled.
Ovechkin scored his third-straight empty-net goal — his third in his last two outings — finding paydirt with four seconds remaining in the game.
Capitals fans went wild inside Capital One Arena when he scored. The goal gave the Capitals a 4-1 lead and the eventual victory over the Seattle Kraken.
Lars Eller initially gave the Capitals some breathing room after he scored on Seattle’s empty net from the Capitals’ defensive zone.
Laviolette then turned to Alex Ovechkin to close out the game. Fans in the arena chanted Ovi’s name throughout the shift hoping for another empty-netter. After one rush up ice didn’t pan out, the Capitals collected a dump in from the Kraken in their own zone and
then the magic happened. John Carlson bumped the puck to Evgeny Kuznetsov off the wall. The Russian center then found Ovi in open space. The Great Eight lumbered up to center ice and let a shot off. As Ovi did, he crumpled former teammate Andre Burakovsky to the ice with a big hit.
best to not get in the way of the #Gr8 and an empty net pic.twitter.com/xVOCM1FKMJ
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 10, 2022
Beautiful!
The goal was Ovechkin’s 16th goal of the season and the 796th of his career.
Ovechkin now sits four goals away from the 800-goal milestone and five away from tying Gordie Howe for second place on the NHL’s all-time goals list.
The goal also marked Ovechkin’s 500th career even-strength goal (please don’t ask me to explain why this is considered an even-strength goal). Only three players have hit the 500-goal mark: Wayne Gretzky (617), Gordie Howe (566), and Jaromir Jagr (500).
Alex Ovechkin scored his 796th career goal and reached another rare NHL milestone on his “Road to 800.”#NHLStats: https://t.co/mAxj5uWfJS #Gr800 pic.twitter.com/hFCqkLgCPW
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 10, 2022
But the most important stat of all: That’s two straight McNugget Minute goals from Ovechkin in two games. 😂
Look at who got you nuggs for the second game in a row!
Enjoy a free 6-piece Chicken McNuggets with minimum $1 purchase tomorrow on the app.
📲 https://t.co/qh48FCDfng#ALLCAPS | @McDonalds pic.twitter.com/GaE1PDEDrO
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 10, 2022
Y’all! We eatin’ good tomorrow!!
@ovi8 @rmnb So close, yet so far. Warm ups v. Seattle pic.twitter.com/SeXTIcO6PN
— Hard Hats (@AndyAltman1) December 9, 2022
Headline photo: @AndyAltman1/Twitter
