Alex Ovechkin scored his second goal of the season, and it came the exact same way as his first.
Off an offensive zone faceoff win by Dylan Strome, Ovechkin rifled a shot past Jet Greaves to give the Capitals a 2-0 lead.
The goal was Ovechkin’s 899th of his career, and it ended up being the game-winner in the Washington Capitals’ 5-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Ovechkin appeared to catch the puck standing on its side, but he still managed to fire it into the back of the net.
“YESSSSSS,” a mic’d-up Ovechkin screamed after scoring. “Again bobble.”
“Bobble?” Strome replied.
“Yeah, bobble,” he said.
“I get it, you like bobble.” Strome said.
The goal on Greaves was Ovechkin’s second of his career against the Blue Jackets netminder, the 184th different goaltender he’s beaten.
“Yeah, it was a big goal in a big moment where we were reeling for a majority of the night, so to (have) a one-goal lead is not safe in that situation,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said. “So to get that second goal was huge. Yeah, he doesn’t need much time and he doesn’t need much space when it comes to getting his shot off. I had a perfect view from the bench. You could see exactly where he was going, low blocker there. And it was a heck of a play in a big moment. ”
The tally puts Ovechkin one away from 900 goals. His next opportunity to reach that milestone will be in his 1,500th career game against the Ottawa Senators at home on Saturday.
After suffering a lower-body injury during training camp, Ovechkin now has two goals in his first eight games of the 2025-26 season, tying the worst eight-game start of his career. He did so three previous times, at the beginning of the 2008-09, 2012-13, and 2023-24 campaigns.
Ovechkin is on pace to score 21 goals this season and end the year with 918 if he plays all 82 games.
