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Capitals: Top 3 heroes against Sharks and Senators

By Michael Marzzacco |
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 07: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates with Nicklas Backstrom #19 after scoring a goal in the second period against the Ottawa Senators at Capital One Arena on January 7, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 07: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates with Nicklas Backstrom #19 after scoring a goal in the second period against the Ottawa Senators at Capital One Arena on January 7, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)
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WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 07: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal against the Washington Capitals during the second period at Capital One Arena on January 07, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 07: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal against the Washington Capitals during the second period at Capital One Arena on January 07, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

Washington Capitals fans we’ve got you two for the price of one.

We’ll take a look back at the awesome highlights of the last two games by looking at the biggest impact players. These Washington Capitals players never take a game off and came up when their number was called.

Sunday’s contest was a wild affair featuring Evander Kane netting a hat trick for the opposition. Despite this, the Capitals rallied with Jakub Vrana scoring with an extra attacker just moments after the Sharks had an empty net goal.

T.J. Oshie tied the game with less than 15 seconds to go and in a fast paced overtime with high flying offense, Lars Eller would send the fans home happy.

On Tuesday night two goals from Ovechkin and Oshie powered the Caps to a six unanswered goal surge in the final 40 minutes in a 6-1 trouncing of the Ottawa Senators. Additionally, Radko Gudas scored his second goal of the season and Eller had his 11th.

Rookie goaltender Ilya Samsonov continued his momentum with a 26 save performance for a .963 save percentage. There were many stars and several highlights these last two games. Here’s are top 3 from each game starting with Sunday against the Sharks.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 05: Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby (70) celebrates with right wing Garnet Hathaway (21) and right wing T.J. Oshie (77) against the San Jose Sharks on January 5, 2020 at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 05: Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby (70) celebrates with right wing Garnet Hathaway (21) and right wing T.J. Oshie (77) against the San Jose Sharks on January 5, 2020 at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Capitals 5 Sharks 4 OT

You can read the recap here.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 05: Washington Capitals left wing Jakub Vrana (13) celebrates his second period goal against the San Jose Sharks on January 5, 2020 at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 05: Washington Capitals left wing Jakub Vrana (13) celebrates his second period goal against the San Jose Sharks on January 5, 2020 at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Jakub Vrana

Jakub Vrana had two goals in Washington’s win over the Sharks. His first one came at 18:42 off a pass from T.J. Oshie right in front of the net. Vrana went top shelf.

https://twitter.com/Capitals/status/1213900543849979904

After the Sharks got a goal on the empty net it was Vrana that sparked a last minute comeback scoring a goal at 19:!3 to put the Caps within one. Vrana got the pass from Lars Eller and spun around before shooting it in the back of the net.

Vrana told NHL.com after the game:

“We don’t ever want to put ourselves in a situation where we have to score late goals like this. But at the same [time], it shows character, shows that we’re a strong group here. We never give up and that’s huge points today we grabbed from this game.”
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 05: T.J. Oshie #77 of the Washington Capitals celebrates after scoring a goal in the third period against the San Jose Sharks at Capital One Arena on January 5, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 05: T.J. Oshie #77 of the Washington Capitals celebrates after scoring a goal in the third period against the San Jose Sharks at Capital One Arena on January 5, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images) /

T.J. Oshie

T.J. Oshie tied the game with 14.2 seconds left with a shot from the right face-off zone off a pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov. Nicklas Backstrom had the secondary. For Oshie it was his 16th goal of the season and another clutch moment for someone making his case to go to the All Star Game.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 05: Lars Eller #20 of the Washington Capitals celebrates with John Carlson #74 after scoring the game winning goal in overtime against the San Jose Sharks at Capital One Arena on January 5, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 05: Lars Eller #20 of the Washington Capitals celebrates with John Carlson #74 after scoring the game winning goal in overtime against the San Jose Sharks at Capital One Arena on January 5, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Lars Eller

Lars Eller once again showed how clutch he was during the overtime period finishing up a 2-on-1 rush off a pass from John Carlson to complete the comeback for his 10th goal of the season.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 07: Radko Gudas #33 of the Washington Capitals celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal in the second period against the Ottawa Senators at Capital One Arena on January 7, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 07: Radko Gudas #33 of the Washington Capitals celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal in the second period against the Ottawa Senators at Capital One Arena on January 7, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Capitals 6 Senators 1

You can check out the recap here.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 07: T.J. Oshie #77 of the Washington Capitals skates with the puck against the Ottawa Senators during the second period at Capital One Arena on January 07, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 07: T.J. Oshie #77 of the Washington Capitals skates with the puck against the Ottawa Senators during the second period at Capital One Arena on January 07, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

T.J. Oshie

T.J. Oshie opened up the scoring for the Capitals 1:19 to tie the game taking a pass from Jakub Vrana and firing it right in front of the net for his 17th goal of the season.

Oshie added another 41 seconds into the third period banging in a one time snapshot off a nifty quick pass from Nicklas Backstrom. John Carlson had the secondary to keep his point totals going.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 07: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal against the Washington Capitals during the second period at Capital One Arena on January 07, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 07: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal against the Washington Capitals during the second period at Capital One Arena on January 07, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

Alex Ovechkin

Alex Ovechkin never gave up even when his initial goal was disallowed. Ovechkin rebounded and fired another one from the right face-off circle and pointed to the net to show that it counts.

https://twitter.com/Capitals/status/1214721399480147968

Ovechkin’s second goal came late in the third on a shot from the knees off a pass from John Carlson. That goal was his 26th of the season and the 684th goal of his career tying him with Teemu Selanne for 11th on the NHL’s all-time goals list.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 07: Goalie Ilya Samsonov #30 of the Washington Capitals looks on against the Ottawa Senators during the third period at Capital One Arena on January 07, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 07: Goalie Ilya Samsonov #30 of the Washington Capitals looks on against the Ottawa Senators during the third period at Capital One Arena on January 07, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

Ilya Samsonov

Ilya Samsonov had another brilliant outing in goal and the rookie is continuing to impress with his momentum lately. Samsonov made 26 saves while facing 27 shots for a .963 save percentage.

More. Capitals vs. Flyers: Rivalry night. light

The win was his seventh in a row and is one shy of Bob Mason from the 1984-85 season for the longest streak by a Capitals rookie netminder in franchise history.

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