The Washington Capitals got the 1-0 overtime win over the Ottawa Senators on the road thanks to Alex Ovechkin's 874th career goal. The goal was assisted by Rasmus Sandin for his 14th of the season and for Ovechkin it was his 21st goal of the season. The winning marker came at 3:07 in overtime.
The Senators led in shots 8-6 in the first period and 9-5 in the second. Washington outshot Ottawa 12-7 in the third and 4-0 in overtime, the fourth shot being Alex Ovechkin's game winner. Overall the Caps led in shots 27-24.
Both teams came up empty on their respective power plays as the Caps went 0 for 1 and the Senators went 0 for 3. Logan Thompson stopped all 24 shots he faced for his second straight shutout after blanking the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night at Capital One Arena.
Alex Ovechkin is now 20 away from tying and 21 away from passing Wayne Gretzky. Ovechkin spoke after the game to the media about the goal via Callum Fraser of NHL.com:
"I knew I should take a shot as soon as I can because I thought he may be thinking I will pass it back to 'Sandy'. It was a good one, and it went in, so I'll take it. "Alex Ovechkin
Ovechkin would go down the ice on a two on one rush with Sandin to beat goaltender Leevi Merilainen who would be the 179th different goaltender Ovechkin has scored against which passed Jaromir Jagr (178) for the most in NHL history.
Capitals coach Spencer Carbery would add this:
"Just the accolades and, like, the different parts of this record are going to just be about a 10 page essay. You just continue to check boxes on his remarkable career, scoring on different guys and in different buildings and against every team. It's remarkable what he's doing. "Spencer Carbery
Washington is now 6-3-0 in their past nine games as Thompson picked up his second consectuvie shutout to improve Washington's record to 30-10-5. In his past eight starts, Thompson is 8-0-0 with a 1.48 goals against average and a .948 save percentage. The Capitals 65 points is good for tops in the Eastern Conference as well as the Metropolian Division. They are tied with the Winnipeg Jets for the top spot in the NHL.
Next up for the Caps is a Saturday night home matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 7 p.m. puck drop. You can catch it on Monumental Sports Network as well as 106.7 The Fan and Caps Radio 24/7.