Stars and Sticks
Fansided

Top 3 Capitals studs against Penguins

The Washington Capitals began 2024 with a bang, literally with four first period goals to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3.

By Michael Marzzacco

Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 3
Next
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

#1 Alex Ovechkin

The number one stud of the game is Alex Ovechkin. He hasn't had the best of seasons but his power play goal but the exclaimation point on the Caps win. It was the 830th goal of his career, putting him 64 behind Wayne Gretzky. Ovechkin has now scored in back to back games.

HIs goal turned out to be the game winner, marking his 126th career game winning goal. Only Jaromir Jagr (135) has more game winning goals in NHL history. It also marked his 302nd career power play goal, adding to his NHL record.

With the goal last night Ovechkin has now passed Ray Bourque for the seventh most points by a player with one franchise in NHL history. Bourque had 1,506 points with the Boston Bruins in 1,518 games played. Ovechkin now has 1,507 career points in 1,382 career games played.

Ovechkin's turnaround began on Dec. 21 in an overtime win at the Columbus Blue Jackets as he scored the game winning goal. It marked his 900th career NHL goal between the regular season and playoffs combined. The only other player to reach 900 career goals between regular season and playoffs combined is you guessed it, Gretzky.