The Washington Capitals finally won a game in regular 3 on 3 overtime and they did it in comeback fashion overcoming a 2-0 deficit against the Winnipeg Jets in a 4-3 final.
The Jets took advantage of an early power play when Dmitry Orlov was called for slashing. They scored with a goal from Kyle Connor at 1:02 and then doubled that lead at 2:20 with a goal from Cole Perfetti.
The Caps would get on the board with 3:02 left in the first. Entering the zone on a two on one rush, Garnet Hathaway fed Alex Ovechkin and he wristed it in from the office for his league leading 27th goal of the season. He also passed Mike Modano for 24th all time on the NHL’s all time points list with his 1,375th point. It was career goal number 757 putting him nine behind number three Jaromir Jagr, 44 from Gordie Howe and 137 from Wayne Gretzky.
2-1 was the score after 20. The Caps led in shots 11-10. The Caps would tie it at two in the second period. It came on a blast from downtown by Orlov for his fifth goal of the season at 4:26. Connor McMichael and Lars Eller had the helpers and it initially looked like Eller deflected it in before Orlov was credited with the goal. It was 2-2 after two with the Jets leading in shots 11-10 in the second period.
The Caps took the lead at 4:15 in the third when Aliaksei Protas executed a perfect wrap around for his third goal of the season. It was assisted by Justin Schultz and Tom Wilson.
The Jets would tie it to force overtime on a goal from Pierre-Luc Dubois at 18:55. The Jets led in shots 12-8 in the third period.
The Caps had gone to overtime 11 times prior to last night. It took the 12th time for them to finally win in the three on three format. It came from Wilson when Orlov worked the puck to Evgeny Kuznetsov and he used his stick work to get the puck over to Willy. It took him two tries but he got it as he followed his rebound.
The Caps had two shots in overtime while the Jets had zero. The Caps were outshot 33-31 overall. Vitek Vanecek followed his Saturday shutout performance with a 30 save night. For Wilson, it was his 12th goal of the season.
The Caps will next be in action tomorrow night on the road against the Boston Bruins.