Capitals crush Canucks behind two historic Alex Ovechkin goals

The Washington Capitals defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 last night in the second game of their season long six game road trip. Alex Ovechkin scored the first two goals of the night and each one were unsurprisingly historic.

His first goal came at 5:35 from the front of the net off a turnover. The second goal came at 11:52 which was assisted by Dylan Strome and Anthony Mantha on a rocket from the office.

The goals were his 12th and 13th of the season, respectively. It was also his 402nd and 403rd road goal to pass Wayne Gretzky for number one all time in goals away from home.

Ovechkin told the media after the game, “It is always nice when you beat The Great One. Doesn’t matter what kind of milestone it is. It is history.”

In the great eight’s career he now has 793 goals. He’s seven away from 800. Eight away from tying Gordie Howe and 101 away from Wayne Gretzky.

Nils Hoglander scored the first and only Canucks goal of the night at 13:55.

At 14:35 the Caps answered. Lars Eller found Marcus Johansson who planted a nice feed to Antony Mantha in front of the net for his sixth goal of the season. It was Eller’s 200th career assist.

3-1 was the score after one as the Caps outshot the Canucks 15-10.

In the second the Caps were outshot 12-6 but they added to their lead. It came from John Carlson at 18:47 for his seventh goal of the season with Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway providing the helpers.

Martin Fehervary capped off the scoring at 15:57 in the final period. The Caps were outshot 10-7 in the third period and 32-28 overall but Darcy Kuemper stopped 27 of those shots to get the win.

The Caps will continue their road trip on Thursday night against the Seattle Kraken. They’ll then take on the Calgary Flames on Saturday night.