Washington Capitals Report Card: Grading offense against Senators

The Washington Capitals won 7-5 over the Ottawa Senators on Monday night on the road. It was an offensive explosion with a combined 12 goals among the teams with T.J. Oshie netting a hat trick and Alex Ovechkin scoring twice. The Caps also got goals from Nick Jensen and John Carlson.

Head coach Petter Laviolette summed it all up in one quick sentence:

"“It was not your typical game, but we found a way to win.”"

When Ovechkin stole the puck and raced down the ice for his first goal of the game, he actually broke his stick. The goal was clutch and helped withstand a Senators rally where they scored three goals prior to that to tie the game.

In the first period, Oshie hd two goals and Jensen and Carlson added goals of their own after the Senators took a 1-0 lead. It went from 0-1 to 4-1 in the blink of an eye.

Ovechkin commented on the flow of the game:

"“It was a fun game for fans — lot of goals, lots of action. We’ll take those two points and move forward.”"

Ovechkin is four goals behind Brett Hull for fourth place on the NHL’s all time scoring list. He’s also 29 behind Jaromir Jagr for third.

The second period was frustrating and before Oshie completed his hat trick, he made a crucial penalty that led to a Senators goal. It was an interference call on Tim Stutzle on a Chris Tierney goal that made it 4-3.

Oshie said he was ready to redeem himself:

"“When I saw the puck go in there, I was pretty upset. I wanted to go out there a make a difference.”"

Oshie did just that beating some defenders on a wraparound following a puck battle along the boards to complete the hat trick. John Carlson said this on Oshie during an interview at intermission:

"“He’s been our spark plug all season long, I feel like. He’s a guy leading the way out there. Glad to see him get rewarded like he was tonight, going to the dirty areas and does the jobs that aren’t the easiest in this league.”"

Grade A+: The Caps offense showed up and showed out in a big way especially with their four goal first period. Seven goals including a combined five from your two main stars always helps. An Oshie hat trick is something you love to see. And now is the time to buy tickets to watch Ovechkin chance Gretzky.