The Washington Capitals love round-number accomplishments, but Thursday night against the Devils, they celebrated something even greater than that.
With their 5-2 throttling of New Jersey, the Capitals returned to the top of the league standings and captured their 69th standings point.
Lost in Alex Ovechkin’s legendary night, Ilya Samsonov made more history on Thursday night with the Capitals decisive win over the New Jersey Devils.
Samsonov is now the 10th different rookie goaltender in NHL history to record a win in nine consecutive decisions during the regular season, and only the second active goaltender on the list, alongside the St. Louis Blues’ Jordan Binnington.
By Donya Abramo 4 years ago
The Washington Capitals took out the New Jersey Devils on home ice in relatively easy fashion. The good guys used three goals from their bloodied captain and another sparkling performance from their rookie netminder to secure to 5-2 victory.
The Caps out-shot the Devils 38 to 34 and out-attempted them at five-on-five 53 to 41.
By Chris Cerullo 4 years ago
Alex Ovechkin broke some news in his postgame interview with NBC Sports Washington’s Al Koken.
“One more game before the All-Star Break, are we going to see you in the lineup?” Koken asked.
“Yeah,” Ovechkin said. “See ya!”
Alex Ovechkin had a legendary game Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils.
After taking a high stick to the face from Miles Wood that went undetected by officials, Ovi was quick to come back and he scored a hat trick. Sweet, sweet revenge. But Ovechkin’s second goal of the night is the one that made some history.
By Elyse Bailey 4 years ago
Early in the first period, Alex Ovechkin absorbed a painful high stick to his mouth from Miles Wood. The Devils forward would later apologize, but the errant stick sent a bloodied Ovechkin to the locker room.
“Obviously, I was a little mad,” Ovechkin said after the game. “It get me going.”
When the Russian machine returned (because he never breaks), he was determined to make the Devils pay. And pay they did.
Ovechkin tallied his 29th and 30th goals in the first period – two revenge goals. And in the third, he scored his 25th career hat trick – the most among all active players – to lead the Capitals to a 5-2 win.
By Ian Oland 4 years ago
Alex Ovechkin scored his 25th career hat trick in the third period of the Capitals’ 5-2 win over the New Jersey Devils.
Capitals fans threw a bunch of hats on the ice. One especially ridiculous one landed on the ice and John Carlson requested it from the referee. He then put it on Braden Holtby’s head.
This was way better than the last time the Capitals faced off against the New Jersey Devils.
The game kicked off with some great pressure from the Capitals and a goal from Carl Hagelin. Sadly, the goal was called back after an offsides review. The time of when the game actually began will be debated, but I think it started after Miles Wood decided to mess with Alex Ovechkin and give him a high stick to the mouth. The call was missed by the referees, but after the Caps eventually went 5-on-3, Ovi was quick to put two goals in the back of the net with two assists from Nick Backstrom. Don’t mess with the best. Second period opened with a revenge goal from Carl Hagelin, which was quickly answered by Wayne Simmonds. As for the third period, the Devils scored a shorthanded goal, but that wouldn’t be enough. Jakub Vrana registered his 21st goal of the season and Alex Ovechkin sealed the night with his third goal.
CAPS WIN!
By Elyse Bailey 4 years ago
TJ Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom have a superstition where they slide and hop into each other on the bench to start a new period of hockey.
It’s a wonderfully dumb superstition and two new Capitals players joined in on the fun Thursday against the Devils: Brendan Leipsic and Radko Gudas.
Miles Wood’s favorite player growing up was Alex Ovechkin. He even got an autograph from Ovechkin after a game in December 2016 as a rookie. Thursday, Wood nearly altered his idol’s face forever.
5:59 into the first period, Wood skated by Ovechkin for a shift change. As the Devils forward skated by Ovechkin, he high-sticked him directly in the face.
