Ovi and Orlov’s Between-The-Legs Goals
Starting off with Ovechkin’s: I think this is under-appreciated because he pulls off this move about 8 times a season and has scored with this move three or four times. However, I remember watching this one live and just sort of laughing because this was his first goal of the 2015-2016 season. It is just typical Ovi to not score a generic first goal of the season. Instead, he has to make a highlight-reel goal that most players will never score, and if they do, it is the nicest goal of their career. This will probably be the case for Dmitry Orlov’s goal.
Dmitry Orlov’s goal feels like it was a big deal when he scored it, but then everybody just forgot about it. He will probably never score a nicer goal than this in his career. Dmitry Orlov scored a goal this nice; A top-4 defenceman who is rarely ever talked about and he is going on a rush and undressing one of the best defenseman in the league in John Klingberg. I think that deserves a bit more recognition considering he isn’t even the best offensive defenceman on his team and he is showcasing handles like these.
These are both just regular season goals, but they are the pure-skill goals I was referring to in the intro. Regardless of the importance of the goal itself, you have to acknowledge the raw skill on display within both goals and that’s what this entire list is about; Bringing these goals back into the spotlight.
The Washington Capitals have scored plenty of important goals that deserve all the credit in the world. But that doesn’t mean that these goals should be forgotten. They need to be appreciated all-the-same because, at the time they were scored, these were huge goals to both the Capitals, and their fans.