The Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets did battle on Christmas Eve Eve and we all got to watch more hockey history be made. What an absolute joy to witness.
Alex Ovechkin opened the scoring with his 801st career marker to tie Gordie Howe for second all-time on the NHL goal-scoring list. Sonny Milano stayed hot and potted his fifth of the season to double the lead.
Nic Dowd put the Caps up three in the third before Kevin Stenlund got the Jets on the board. Alex Ovechkin empty netter to jump all the way over Mr. Hockey.
Capitals beat Jets 4-1!
- I thought the Caps were the clear better team in the first. Every time they had the puck they seemed to be getting to dangerous areas. It’s just that the final pass was god-awful. An incredibly discombobulated first frame highlighted by a couple of power play opportunities that saw several head-scratching zone entry attempts.
- The one shining jewel of those first twenty minutes though came toward the very end as Alex Ovechkin finally put career goal number 801 into the hockey history books. David Rittich, the 166th goaltender Ovi has scored on in his career, will be the guy on the highlight reel for years to come. The Great Eight was also mic’d up for the big tally.
- Sonny Milano had an early chance off the rush using his speed that I feel like is so rare to see in recent years for the Caps. Give me more of that. He needs to stay high in the lineup and in my opinion, is already really deserving of at least some sort of contract extension talks. What a pickup.
1,795 of you also submitted (mostly) NHL-related grievances. I'll go through them today but here's the word cloud: pic.twitter.com/VQp1SzGMOC
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) December 23, 2022
- The second period was even better than the first. The only negative is that they only found the back of the net twice through forty minutes. This team is humming along right now at five-on-five maybe the best they ever have under Peter Laviolette.
- I’m giving Milano another bullet point because he scored after I already wrote the first one and I’m a huge fan. That goal was his fifth of the season and his 16th overall point in 23 games. All five goals and 12 of those points have come at five-on-five. This is a guy that they gave up absolutely nothing to get and are paying just $750,000 for a 57-point pace over 82 games.
- Mark Scheifele probably had a right to be somewhat mad about that icing call but that doesn’t mean you can just lose your mind and fire the puck at an official. He is incredibly, incredibly lucky that he only sat for two minutes in the box. Calm yourself, dude.
- Lars Eller tends to catch a lot of negativity from Caps fans these days but I think he’s actually been noticeably great of late. It’s especially his work on the forecheck for me that has stood out. When he is F1 (the first guy in), he is putting immense pressure on opposing defenders and turning them over a ton which is creating either extended offensive zone time or immediate scoring chances.
👉get a load of these guys👈 pic.twitter.com/4gbXo5FdBN
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 23, 2022
- The third was not good at all. Thank your netminder. I don’t really blame them though for being a little lifeless after seeing what happened to their good buddy.
- That good buddy is John Carlson who took a slap shot directly to the face/head and started bleeding profusely almost immediately. He left the ice under his own power and did not return. Thinking about you, John.
- Charlie Lindgren is fantastic.
- He looked like he didn’t want it but the crowd almost forced him to take it. Alex Ovechkin is officially the sole owner of the second-most goals in NHL history at 802. Wow. Just wow. Goosebumps stuff, folks.
It's Joe B and…Locker the Snowman on the pre-Christmas call for you tonight #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/BJPHg8c1rI
— RMNB (@rmnb) December 23, 2022
The Caps are now off for four days until they travel to New York on December 27 to play the Rangers for the first time this season. Those games are always a blast to watch.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
