WASHINGTON, DC — The Washington Capitals celebrated Alex Ovechkin’s historic career Wednesday night, and he wasted no time giving the fans more to cheer for with his 908th career goal.
After starting the night with a pregame ceremony, Ovechkin hit paydirt late in the second period with a goal few other players could pull off. Ovechkin wasn’t even facing the goal when Matt Roy, hoping simply to keep the puck in the zone, sent him a pass. But Ovechkin spun around for the no-look shot, launching the puck over Dylan Strome and into the net.
Ovechkin’s goal put the Capitals up 3-2, and they would remain in the lead for the remainder of the game.
Head coach Spencer Carbery wasn’t surprised to see Ovechkin score against the Jets, given his history of rising to the occasion in milestone games.
“You could have called that for sure,” Carbery said. “Those things happen. He always finds ways to have an impact on the game when it’s a big night or an important moment, and tonight was no different.”
The Winnipeg Jets’ Eric Comrie became the 186th goaltender Ovechkin has scored on in his career, adding yet another name to Ovi’s list.
John Carlson joked about the unusual nature of Ovechkin’s goal postgame.
“I’m sure there’s been plenty of them sprinkled in, but you won’t see anyone complaining about it,” Carlson said. “And certainly, it was a huge goal for us in the game, too, really. I think that was awesome, especially after such an important and cool and amazing tribute. Like always, it’s always fitting to celebrate him, and (to have him) come up with a big play at the big time, that, from our captain, is enormous.”
With Wednesday’s goal, Ovechkin has broken the all-time NHL record set by Alex Ovechkin *checks calendar* last Thursday. He’s now on pace for a 38-goal season, averaging 0.46 goals per game, and his 11 tallies rank second on the Capitals behind only Tom Wilson (12).
Ovechkin now has eight goals in his last nine games, a far cry from the three he scored in the first 15 games of the season.
“He’s in one of those grooves right now, that every time he shoots it on net, all of us expect it to go in,” Connor McMichael said.
The Capitals have followed Ovechkin’s lead in that nine-game span as they’ve recovered from a losing skid to go 6-2-1. Carbery spoke to the confidence Ovechkin’s hot streak has given his teammates, spurring on wider success.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’re winning games and he’s scoring at a high clip,” Carbery said. “If you look back to last year at the beginning of the year, he was red hot out of the gate, and so was our team. I think there’s some correlation there, between when he gets hot like this and pucks are going in for him — I just feel like it gives our group a lot of confidence that we’re going to score tonight. We’re going to get three or four.
“And this stretch that we’ve been on — where that middle stretch, we were getting one or two a night, shut out a few times in that stretch — and now it feels like, ‘Well, O’s getting one for sure, at least. And the rest of us can chip in with two or three or four.’ And that’s the way it’s been going. So I think it gives our group a lot of confidence when he’s playing at the level or finishing at the level he is right now.”