The Washington Capitals bounced back and continued their dominance over the Ottawa Senators 5-3.
Alex Ovechkin scored twice in the Washington Capitals win to bring his goal total up to 695. The team improved their record to 34-12-5 to continue to lead atop the NHL.
The Caps scored two goals in the first period to take a commanding 2-0 lead to start. First it was T.J. Oshie on the deflection in with John Carlson and Jakub Vrana getting the helpers.
Evgeny Kuznetsov got a goal of his own at 11:22 off a pass from Jakub Vrana set up by Dmitry Orlov. It was Kuzy’s 17th goal of the season. 2-0 was the score after one with the Caps leading in shots 16-5.
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The Senators got on the board with a goal from Chris Tierney at 7:15. Alex Ovechkin got one back at 10:27 with a shot from the right face-off circle. Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson had the helpers.
The Senators responded with a goal from Thomas Chabot at 11:31 to cut the deficit to one before the second period concluded. The Caps took a 3-2 lead into the dressing room despite being outshot 17-10.
At 1:51 in the third the Caps were whistled for too many dudes on the ice. Despite the penalty, the Caps scored shorthanded with a great one handed backhand pass from Lars Eller to Carl Hagelin rushing down the ice. It was Hagelin’s fourth goal of the season.
The Senators got one back with a goal from Artem Anisimov at 4:47. Ovechkin added an empty netter with 14.8 seconds left to put himself at eighth all time in the NHL goal scoring list. He passed Rangers legend Mark Messier with 695 and needs just five from 700.
Ovechkin told Callum Fraser of NHL.com after the game:
"“You can see how my linemates and my whole team played tonight; every time they had a chance to find me out there, they tried to do it. Obviously, I had plenty of chances today to score more, but I’ll take two and move forward.”"
Ovechkin also has 37 goals which is tied for the league lead with David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins. Coach Todd Reirden added:
"“He was on, he was sharp, he was ready to go. He stepped away from the All-Star Game to prepare himself to make a run the second half here and get himself ready to push our team to the ultimate goal for our group, which is a Stanley Cup.”"
The Capitals will finally host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Super Bowl Sunday with puck drop set for 12:30. There is no telling yet who will start in net but Ilya Samsonov had a good outing Friday with 25 saves on the 28 shots he faced for a .893 save percentage.