The Washington Capitals take on their division rival Philadelphia Flyers for a Saturday night main event. Will Alex Ovechkin hit the mark against a familiar foe?
The Washington Capitals continue to maintain their lead over the division, even with the occasional inconsistency.
The Capitals have had stretches all season where they go on short winning streaks sandwiched between a few losses.
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In the Washington Capitals last contest against the Los Angeles Kings, the game appeared to be headed in the direction of a loss to the Kings. But then Alex Ovechkin took over, and with only about 6 minutes left in the game he had his first shot on goal in which he tied the game.
Alex then followed up that great moment with another two where he then took the lead and sealed the win. The go ahead goal Ovechkin put home his own rebound after Jonathan Quick couldn’t handle the puck, this gave him number 697. Finally he sealed the win with an empty net goal, but not one of the normal variety this one he shot and made from the top of the circle on the Caps side of the ice.
Lost in the magic that Alex Ovechkin continues to produce, is the good game by both Braden Holtby and John Carlson. Holtby made some stellar saves in a game where the Capitals allowed too many odd man rushes and gave the Kings a number of scoring chances. And Carlson much like in their previous matchup was critical to the victory as he had the only other Capitals goal and helped assist on two of Ovechkins goals. This gives Carlson three goals and two assists in two games against the Kings on the season.
With this hat trick, his 27th of his storied career, Ovechkin left himself within two goals of the next magic number 700 for his career.
It had placed him in sole possession of the league lead in goals with 40 on the season, although Auston Matthews has since tied him for the lead, marking the 11th time in his career he broke that barrier.
Next Ovechkin will get a chance to hit the next milestone number against an all too familiar foe in the Philadelphia Flyers, with what feels like a Saturday main event.
Both teams hold the same record over their last five with three wins to two losses. But they differ in their overall record on the year, the Capitals lead the division on 77 points versus the Flyers sitting tied for 5th place with the Hurricanes at 65 points. This has the Flyers sitting just outside of the playoff picture right now.
With Samsonov listed as day to day, look for Braden Holtby to get a chance to replicate his good outing against the Kings. Against the Flyers, Holtby has a 13-5-8 record with 0.919 SV% and 2.42 GAA. As for Alex Ovechkin’s track record against the Flyers, he has scored 34 goals in 55 games or at a rate of 0.62 G/GM. Is Ovechkin determined to reach the 700 goal mark, and can he continue his incredible scoring stretch?
Here is when and how to find out:
Date: Saturday. February 8th
Time: 7:00 pm EST
Where: Capital One Arena
TV Broadcast: NBC Sports Washington
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Caps Radio 24/7
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