022520 | RMNB

Ilya Kovalchuk nodded his head to ‘What Is Love’ after Garnet Hathaway scored

Against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday, Garnet Hathaway scored his first goal at home since October 18, meaning his goal song was cued up at Capital One Arena for the very first time. The fourth-line grinder chose the pop hit What Is Love, performed by Haddaway and made famous by Saturday Night Live.

“I just thought it would be a fun, uplifting song,” Hathaway said to The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir. “And, you know, Haddaway, Hathaway, that was the kicker.”

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By Ian Oland 1 year ago

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The Winnipeg Jets kept stacks of warmup pucks commemorating Alex Ovechkin’s 700th goal

The Washington Capitals hosted a pregame ceremony honoring Alex Ovechkin scoring 700 career goals Tuesday and it appears Capitals fans weren’t the only ones in awe of Ovechkin’s latest milestone.

According to fans watching pregame, the Winnipeg Jets, who were the Capitals’ opponents that night, kept stacks of commemorative warmup pucks as souvenirs. The pucks featured the Ovechkin 700 logo that was also printed on commemorative towels the Capitals gave out to every fan in attendance.

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By Ian Oland 1 year ago

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An 11-year-old Capitals fan made TJ Oshie a donut sign. Oshie gave him his stick and a warmup puck.

Alex Ovechkin’s pregame ceremony, 701st goal, and shootout game-winner might have gotten all the headlines in the Capitals’ 4-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday, but there was a moment of kindness that happened before all of this.

During pregame warmups, 11-year-old Will Altman held up a sign beside the Capitals bench that read OSHIE HIT THE DONUT. The signed played off a donut bet Oshie won with his young daughter Leni after scoring a goal against the New York Islanders.

Oshie tossed Will a warmup puck and one of his sticks.

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By Ian Oland 1 year ago

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Sergei Ovechkin met Captain and gave him nice pets

There were a lot of important things that happened last night. Alex Ovechkin was honored for scoring 700 goals, Ilya Kovalchuk made his Capitals debut, and the Caps won in the shootout.

But behind the scenes, something else momentous happened.

You guys, Ovi Jr met Captain.

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By Ian Oland 1 year ago

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Yes please, more of that: numbers for the morning after

In their first, very close to complete effort in a long time the Washington Capitals took down the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 in a shootout. The post trade deadline portion of the schedule is off to a great start.

The Caps out-shot the Jets 37 to 33, but were out-attempted at five-on-five 59 to 54.

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By Chris Cerullo 1 year ago

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Alex Ovechkin says Sergei stole the show during his 700th goal ceremony. He’s cute ‘like his mom.’

After the game, Alex Ovechkin revealed that he was grateful for the pregame ceremony the Capitals hosted in honor of his 700th career goal.

“Thanks again for everything this organization has [done] for me,” Ovechkin said. “It’s a pretty cool moment.”

But it was his one-year-old son, Sergei, who made the ceremony especially memorable. Sergei made a cameo in the team’s tribute video and hugged on his dad throughout the ceremony.

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By Ian Oland 1 year ago

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Alex Ovechkin scored the decisive shootout goal in the fifth round. The Capitals have one of the deepest shootout rosters in NHL history.

After acquiring Ilya Kovalchuk in a trade, the Washington Capitals have arguably the most talented shootout roster since the league added the skills competition to games during the 2005-06 season.

For instance, Todd Reirden opted not to ice the two greatest offensive players in franchise history, Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, as one of the top three shooters and for good reason.

Reirden, instead, penciled in TJ Oshie, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Evgeny Kuznetsov who have all had long records of shootout success throughout their careers. Oshie has scored the fifth most shootout goals in NHL history (44) and the second-most game-deciding goals (20). Kovalchuk has scored the 18th most shootout goals in NHL history (30) while Kuznetsov is a career 41.5 percent shooter. Oshie and Kovalchuk were also the two marathon shooters in the eight-round USA-Russia shootout in the 2014 Sochi Olympics (see bottom).

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By Ian Oland 1 year ago

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Leaving on a jet plane: Caps beat Jets 4-3 in shootout

On a lovely Tuesday night, the Washington Capitals squeaked out a win over the Winnipeg Jets. The Capitals will now pack their bags and head up to Winnipeg….to play the Jets again. Apologies about the pun in the title, I can’t control it.

A wonderful ceremony honoring Alex Ovechkin’s 700th goal followed by an Alex Ovechkin goal to open the game? What a beautiful beginning on the road to #800VI. A few minutes later, Jakub Vrana turned up the speed and fired a shot to the back of the net, bringing the Capitals up 2-0 heading into the second period.

Only goal in the second period, for the good guys, came from Garnet Hathaway after 13 and a half minutes. He immediately got into a fight, which had us all begging for a Gordie Howe hat trick. There was a bad turnover in front of Holtby and Nikolaj Ehlers got one in for the Jets before the end of the period.

Third period and John Carlson turned the puck over at the blue line to give the Jets a moment to bring the score up 3-2. A puck off of Orlov’s skate and through Holtby tied the game. Overtime was not enough for this game, so a shootout occurred and Alex Ovechkin scored the game-winning shootout goal. Of course he did.

Caps win!

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By Elyse Bailey 1 year ago

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