WASHINGTON – Alex Ovechkin has ended his brief goal drought. The countdown to another milestone in his career has begun again. Ovechkin scored his first goal of the season on Friday night, leaving him just two goals shy of reaching 900 in his career and helping the Washington Capitals achieve a 5-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild. The Russian star went scoreless in the first four games of the season, a longer-than-usual period, although it did not represent a crisis. Last season, Ovechkin scored 44 goals and broke Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record with his 895th goal. Now, the count has reached 898, visible on a scoreboard over a corner of the track in Washington.
With the score 2-1 in favor of the Capitals in the third period, Dylan Strome won a face-off against Ovechkin, who shot the puck towards the goal, hitting the left post before going in. “We obviously try that play frequently, and when it works, it looks great. It doesn’t always work. It was one of those situations where I was just in the right place,” commented Strome, who scored two goals in the game. After losing their first game, the Capitals have won four in a row and have only allowed three goals in 5-on-5 play all season. On Friday, they outshot Minnesota 45-14 in a dominant performance. After two periods, the difference in shots was 24-7, but Washington was only leading 2-1 before Ovechkin extended the Capitals’ lead.“The opportunities were there. Sometimes you just have to be patient,” Ovechkin said.
Alex Ovechkin
“Everything we did in the third period was exactly in line with how we want to play. The structure, the players made good decisions, rotating the lines. It was probably our most impressive period given the situation,” expressed coach Spencer Carbery.
Spencer Carbery
