The Washington Capitals got some tasty, tasty homecooking on their debut at the rechristened Capital One Arena. The Caps struck thrice in the first 2:31, then Alex Ovechkin wrapped up yet another hat trick before the first period ended.
Yeah. It’s back-to-back hat tricks for Ovi to start the season. He has tied Peter Bondra for the franchise record.
By Peter Hassett 6 years ago
The first two nights of the NHL regular season have been full of goals. The superstars of the game have stepped up offensively, often in a big way.
Wednesday, Wayne Simmonds and Connor McDavid both notched hat tricks. And while we were watching Alex Ovechkin complete yet another three-goal game Thursday, Brandon Saad did the same. This is the first time in 100 years that four different players have scored hat tricks in their season-opening games.
By Brendan Doyle 6 years ago
Thursday night, 32-year-old Alex Ovechkin reminded us again just how great of a player he remains. With three snaps of his wrist, Ovechkin scored his 18th career hat trick. Within that 6:33 span, Ovechkin tied the game twice and forced the game to overtime.
Some of the stats surrounding Ovechkin’s accomplishment are mind-blowing. For instance, according to @ESPNStatsInfo, Ovechkin now has 5 more hattys than any other player since making his debut in 2005-06.
Despite the Capitals looking rusty in the first two periods of their season opener, they dominated the Ottawa Senators in shot attempts 36-23. The dam broke in the third period.
Alex Ovechkin scored three goals in a six-minute and thirty-three second span. It was Ovechkin’s 18th career hat trick.
The Russian machine is now tied with Mike Modano for 24th on the NHL’s all-time goal list.
Tuesday night Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin scored his 17th career hat trick during the Caps’ 5-4 OT victory against the Minnesota Wild. With an abundance of Caps fans in attendance, a plethora of hats were tossed to the ice. Wednesday morning, the Capitals’ owner Ted Leonsis took to Twitter to make an announcement.
By Rachel Cohen 7 years ago
For some reason, the Minnesota Wild decided to leave Alex Ovechkin wide open for most of the night. You know what happened next.
The Russian machine tallied his 17th career hat trick against former bench boss Bruce Boudreau. All three of Ovechkin’s goals were scored on the power play from his office. With a heavy contingent of Caps fans in attendance (including the Caps Road Crew), hats were actually thrown on the ice.
Saturday night, the planets all aligned for the Caps organization.
All three of the franchise’s teams played, including the Capitals’ two minor league affiliates: the Hershey Bears and the South Carolina Stingrays. Each team won their game and scored five or more goals to do so. All three teams also had a player tally a hat trick on the same night.
TJ Oshie scored two goals early in Saturday’s win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, then nearly fifty minutes passed without a third. Once Andrei Vasilevskiy abandoned the net in the game’s final two minutes, Oshie completed the hat trick with — well, I guess that was technically an empty-net alley oop?
Whatever it was, it has given Oshie his first hat trick since 2015 and it puts him in front of Alex Ovechkin in the Caps’ goal-scoring race.
By Peter Hassett 7 years ago
The Nashville Predators played the Calgary Flames Tuesday night and boy was it a weird game. Former Capitals prospect Filip Forsberg scored a hat trick on Flames goalie Brian Elliott. Forsberg scored on all three of his second period shots, which gave him his third career hatty. We can hear all of you groaning from here.
But the real news was who Forsberg accomplished this feat in front of: country-music legend Billy Ray Cyrus.
Alex Ovechkin will have a very Happy (American) Thanksgiving with his video game console tomorrow. The Russian machine scored his 16th career hat trick on Thanksgiving eve, feasting on Carter Hutton’s merely average goaltending.
Let me set the scene. Ovechkin tallied a power play goal in the first period and a one-time goal in the second. In the third, Ovechkin raced up the ice after a Caps’ faceoff loss, and boomeranged a wrist shot past Hutton to complete the trick.
Let the hats fly!
