Ovechkin Overcomes Howe in Caps Win

More than 18,000 fans found an early Christmas present tucked in their stockings on Friday night at Capital One Arena. Ever since Alex Ovechkin poured three pucks past Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mrazek on Dec. 13 in Chicago to become the third player ever to score 800 career goals in the NHL, the Ovechkin Watch has been on high alert.

The media attention and presence increased drastically as soon as the Caps returned home for a three-game homestand and it has remained that way since as the crowds in D.C. - and in Ottawa on Thursday night - hoped for and waited for the possibility of witnessing history, with Ovechkin just a goal behind the legendary Gordie Howe (801) for second place on the NHL's all-time goals list.

Four games went by without any lamplighters from the captain, but Friday night's buoyant holiday crowd got what they came for. Ovechkin caught and passed Howe in a 4-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night at Capital One Arena, catching Mr. Hockey with the first goal of the game late in the first period and nudging past Howe with the final goal of the game, an empty-netter with exactly one minute remaining in the contest.
"I had very good chances before, but it didn't go in," says Ovechkin. "Obviously, my family is here, friends, fans. It's a pretty big moment.
"It's very emotional. My parents are watching from home, my wife is here, my kids here, friends. Doing it at home is special; I thank them for all their support. That's pretty good, that's a history moment. It's nice to be in this category of players."
With just under two minutes left in the first, Caps goalie Charlie Lindgren papered over a turnover in Washington ice with an excellent glove save of a Mark Scheifele wrist shot from the slot.
Dylan Strome won the ensuing defensive zone draw, and the Caps started moving north. Conor Sheary left the puck for Ovechkin in neutral ice, and the captain went cross-ice to Strome, sending him into Jets territory. Strome dropped it back to Ovechkin on a bit of a give-and-go, and from just above the right circle, Ovechkin snapped a shot through Jets goalie David Rittich, the first shot the Caps captain has ever taken on the Winnipeg netminder.
Rittich became the 166th different goaltender to yield a goal against to Ovechkin. Only Jaromir Jagr (178) and Patrick Marleau (177) have claimed more netminding victims.
The goal came at 18:22 - eleven seconds after the face-off in their own end - giving the Caps a 1-0 lead and pulling Ovechkin into a tie for second place with Howe. The goal was also Ovechkin's 71st career game-opening goal at home, tying him with Howe for second place on the all-time list in that category. Jagr (76) is the all-time leader.
"It was special, it's unbelievable," says Strome. "After the hat trick to 800, it took a little while to get to 801 and 802, obviously. It was special. When we saw the puck go in, it was relief I'm sure from everyone. He's got 93 more now to break the record.
"He's an unbelievable player and an unbelievable guy. I just saw the puck go in, and it's a great feeling."

With the Caps leading 3-1 in the waning minutes of the game, Ovechkin took the ice and initially brushed a long distance shot at the empty net off the outside of the left post. Later in the same shift, he passed up a chance at the empty net to feed Evgeny Kuznetsov, who put it right back on his stick. Ovechkin then fired a blind shot into the vacant net from the left half wall, just inside the Winnipeg line. Another mass celebration ensued, and the scoreboard showed a video of Mark Howe, Gordie's son and a Hockey Hall of Famer himself, offering earnest congratulations to Ovechkin on behalf of the Howe family and his late parents.
"You want to say once in a lifetime," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "But moments like that in hockey rarely come up where you pause the game to honor somebody for such a special achievement. What he's been able to accomplish here in Washington is truly unbelievable, and you get an opportunity on a night like tonight to just again pause the game and take a moment and just honor that moment of what happened. It's pretty special."
"It's nice that it happened in front of the home crowd," says Kuznetsov. "Maybe it's empty net, but at the same time, I'm glad that it happened in our house, and our fans deserved to be part of that."
When the final minute ticked off the clock, the Jets lined up as in postseason fashion to shake the hand of the man who now sits behind only Wayne Gretzky (894) on the NHL's all-time goals ledger.
Washington didn't let impending three-day holiday break distract it from the business at hand, namely winning a hockey game and picking up a couple more points. After earning a pair of power plays in the first, the Caps drew two more extra-man opportunities in the second. While none of those power plays bore fruit, Sonny Milano struck just seconds after the expiration of one of them just after the midpoint of the second.
Parked at the back door on the weak side, Milano buried a nifty feed from Sheary at 12:46 of the second, three ticks after the power play ended. It was Milano's second such goal in as many nights; on Thursday in Ottawa he scored the Caps' second goal of the game in the second period, doing so eight seconds after a Washington power play ended.
In the first minute of the third, Caps defenseman John Carlson suffered a gruesome upper body injury when former teammate Brenden Dillon's rising center point drive caught him up high and caused a lot of bleeding. Carlson was quickly and urgently helped from the ice and was swiftly attended to by team medical personnel.
"It's tough that Carly wasn't there tonight because he sits right next to Ovi and is such a loud, vocal piece inside the locker room," said Laviolette after the game. "Right now, he is under the care of team physicians, and is being transported to the hospital for precautionary evaluation. We're certainly watching to see just what happens with him, and we want to make sure that he's good, and that he's safe. Right now, he is with the doctors."

Minutes later, Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway worked a slick give-and-go play that culminated in the former scoring on a shot from the slot to extend the Washington lead to 3-0. Dowd's line and Lars Eller's line were both sturdy in shutting down the Jets' top six forwards by making them play more in the defensive zone than they would have liked, and Lindgren took care of the chances that did come his way from the top six.
Lindgren was excellent again on Friday against the Jets. He didn't see a ton of shots in the first two frames, but the first save he made was on a slot chance from the dangerous Kyle Connor when the game was still scoreless. Lindgren also flashed the glove twice to deny Scheifele, whose frustration seemed to mount as the game wore on.
"Tonight, I thought we were a little bit sloppier than we had been in previous games," says Laviolette. "But that could have been the back-to-back and the schedule and the grind that we've been on.
"Pushing through this, I also have been impressed by just the businesslike mindset of our group. When it has been game day - for the last 10 or 11 games - our guys have shown up to play."
Midway through the third, the Jets spoiled Lindgren's bid for a shutout, making it 3-1 when Kevin Stenlund potted a rebound at 9:59 of the third.
Lindgren finished the night with 25 saves - 15 of them in the third period when the Jets pressed hard despite being down three goals while playing their fifth game in seven nights - and his 10th win of the season.
"Slow start," says Jets coach Rick Bowness. "We took some penalties in the second period, and when he got going, even in the second, we had some good looks. The kid in the net for them made a lot of big saves at the right time."
Bowness also had some complimentary words for Ovechkin's achievement.
"You know he is going to score goals," says the Jets' coach. "Listen, I was in Phoenix when he had that memorable goal when he fell down and took a backhand [shot and scored]. The defenseman Paul Mara came back to the bench and I said, 'Paul, you just played that 1-on-1 absolutely perfectly. You separated the man from the puck, you knocked him down, and he still found a way to score. So give him credit.'
"I was on the bench in Phoenix for that one, and that stays with you. It shows you his perseverance and his character, his work ethic. Good for him. You know what? Really, congratulations to him. He deserves that."