POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Caps 7, Sens 5

Shoot Out The Lights - On a dreary Monday night in suburban Ottawa, the Caps and Senators livened up the atmosphere by combining for a dozen goals, 11 of which were scored at 5-on-5. The defense-optional contest included hat tricks from Washington's T.J. Oshie and Ottawa's Drake Batherson, as well as a pair of goals from Alex Ovechkin, who crept closer to Brett Hull (741) in the No. 4 slot on the NHL's all-time goal scoring list.

The Caps prevailed 7-5, running their record to 4-0-2 on the season.

Batherson started the scoring at 2:26 of the first period, and the Caps soon struck for four unanswered in a span of 9 minutes and 17 seconds, chasing starter Anton Forsberg to the bench. Forsberg was dented for four goals on 16 shots, and the best of his dozen stops was a dazzling lateral save on Ovechkin in the first, a denial that ultimately prevented the Caps captain from joining the hat trick parade.
Washington scored four times on 18 shots in the first, but the Sens were buzzing around in the Caps' end as well, firing 13 shots on Ilya Samsonov.
In the second, the Sens dominated early. They knotted the score at 4-4 with three goals in a span of 5 minutes and 19 seconds, and they held Washington without a shot for a stretch of more than nine minutes.
But for the second time in as many games, the Caps scored a second-period goal in the wake of an Ovechkin shot block. Martin Fehervary scored his first NHL goal on Saturday after Ovechkin blocked a Calgary shot, and this time Ovechkin thwarted a Nikita Zaitsev shot that created a breakaway for the Great Eight. Holding his broken stick together, he beat Filip Gustavsson - the 149th different goaltender he has victimized in his NHL career - to restore the Washington lead at 5-4.
Oshie scored the Caps' first two goals, and he completed his hatty in the final seconds of the middle period, combining with Connor McMichael to retrieve the puck after the Caps lost an o-zone draw, and then scoring on a wraparound with 7.3 seconds left to give Washington a two-goal cushion going into the third.
That cushion was crucial, because Batherson filled his hat trick early in the third to make it 6-5. Ovechkin's second of the game accounted for the 7-5 final, as the plucky Sens scored more goals and mustered more shots (37) than any team had against the Caps in five previous games this season.
Samsonov allowed five goals, but he denied Thomas Chabot from in tight off the rush midway through the first, made a big stop on Alex Formenton just ahead of Ottawa's flurry of goals in the second, one of five saves he made on shots from inside 20 feet away in the first 11 minutes of the second period.
Prior to Batherson's goal in the third, Samsonov made big saves on Formenton and on Artem Zub. According to naturalstattrick.com, the Sens managed 14 high danger scoring chances to 11 for the Caps at 5-on-5 on Monday.
"I think we had a successful first period," says Ovechkin. "Then we kind of let it go and gave them a chance to tie it up. Obviously, it was kind of a fun game for the fans; lots of goals and lots of action. So we'll take those two points and move forward."

Mad Hatter - Oshie's hat trick was the fifth of his NHL career and his second in the Caps' last three regular season road games, dating back to last season. His hat trick on Monday in Ottawa was "perfect;" he had three shot attempts in the game, all three were on net and all three went in.
"Obviously he was flying today," says Ovechkin of Oshie. "It seemed like every time he would take a shot or make a play it's a hundred percent it goes in the net or on our stick. I think their lined played very well and it was nice to see him get a hatty."
Each of Oshie's goals came within seconds of the Caps losing a face-off. The first one came six seconds after the lost draw, the second was a dozen seconds after losing a defensive zone face-off, and the third came 14 seconds after the Sens won a face-off in their end.
Starting Point - Playing in front of a group of friends and family for the first time in his NHL career, McMichael picked up the first two points of his career on Monday night, recording assists on Oshie's first and third goals of the game.
"It was cool," says McMichael of the experience. "I had that in the back of my mind the whole game. They're a big part of my hockey career - taking me to the rink early in the mornings and stuff like that - so it was cool to play in front of my family."

McMichael hails from Ajax, Ontario, which is closer to Toronto and about a four-hour drive to Ottawa. When he made his NHL debut against Buffalo last Jan. 24 at Capital One Arena, McMichael did so in an empty building, so it was a bonus that they were able to witness his first points in the League.
"Yeah, for sure," says the rookie pivot. "It's cool that they could be here for it and it's a lot of fun. I'm happy I could share the moment with them."
Turn Around - Over a stretch of seven games against Ottawa from Feb. 22, 2012 through Jan. 21, 2014, the Caps had very little success against the Sens. The Caps were 0-6-1 in those games and they were outscored by a combined 24-11 in the process.
The tables have turned since then. Washington's win on Monday was its ninth straight over the Sens, and the Caps are now 16-1-1 against Ottawa since the end of that 0-6-1 run early in the previous decade. They've scored five or more goals in each of their last four games against the Senators, and they've outscored Ottawa by a combined 67-35 in the last 18 meetings between the two clubs.
Washington opened its Cup-winning campaign of 2017-18 in Ottawa against the Sens, coming back from a 3-1 deficit to claim a 5-4 shootout win on the strength of three Ovechkin goals in the third period. That game started a run during which Ovechkin has now totaled 10 goals and 13 points in his last nine games against Ottawa.
Blueline Bonanza - Five of Washington's six defensemen picked up a point in Monday's game, with Nick Jensen and John Carlson finding the back of the net and Trevor van Riemsdyk, Dmitry Orlov and Martin Fehervary collecting assists.
Last season, Washington defensemen combined to average 2.48 points per game, the most by any Caps' blueline corps since the 1992-93 team combined for 3.14 points per game. In the early going of 2021-22, Caps defensemen have piled up six goals and 17 points in six games for a rate of 2.83 points per game.
By The Numbers - Fourteen of Washington's 18 skaters ended the night with a "plus" next to his name while the other four - including Oshie - were even on the night … Carlson led the Caps with 22:15 in ice time … Ovechkin led the Caps with six shots on net and 10 shot attempts … Garnet Hathaway led Washington with seven hits and 14 of the Caps' 18 skaters recorded at least one of the team's 30 hits on the night … Fehervary led the Caps with three blocked shots … Washington won only 27 of 71 draws (38 percent) in the game.