Ovechkin scores NHL goal No. 750 in Capitals win against Blue Jackets

WASHINGTON-- Alex Ovechkin's 750th NHL goal was the game-winner for the Washington Capitals in a 3-1 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Capital One Arena on Saturday.

Ovechkin gave the Capitals a 2-0 lead at 3:12 of the second period when he entered the offensive zone and beat Daniil Tarasov with a wrist shot from the right circle.
"Yeah, it's a pretty cool number," Ovechkin said. "Just keep going. Move on."
The forward became the fourth player to score at least 20 goals in each of his first 17 NHL seasons and trails Jaromir Jagr by 16 goals for third in NHL history.
Aliaksei Protas and Garnet Hathaway scored, and Ilya Samsonov made 17 saves for the Capitals (15-4-6).
"Defensively, I thought we were really strong," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. "Sometimes we shot ourselves in the foot by throwing the puck away, but, for the most part, I thought it was pretty good offensively as well."

Eric Robinson scored for the Blue Jackets (12-10-0), who lost four straight road games.
"No one's going to come hand you a game," Columbus coach Brad Larson said. "You've got to go get it, and you're going to have to find a way and grind through not just for 10 minutes or 12 minutes. It's going to have to be shift after shift. We're learning some hard lessons here."
Tarasov made 29 saves playing his second NHL game.
"I think I played against his father (goalie Vadim Tarasov) back in Russia," Ovechkin said. "I think he has a good future. He's big (6-foot-6), strong. Again, for us it doesn't matter who's on the ice. We just try to do our job."

Protas gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 4:33 of the first period when he scored off the rebound of Justin Schultz's shot.
"Try to play simple, get the puck to the net, work there, make it hard for the goalie," Protas said.
The Blue Jackets appeared to get within one goal when Yegor Chinakhov scored off the rush at 4:13 of the second period. Washington challenged the goal and after video review the play was ruled offside.
Robinson scored off a pass from Justin Danforth on the rush to pull the Blue Jackets within 2-1 at 6:28 of the third period.
"I didn't even know it was Eric to be honest with you," Danforth said. "I just saw one of our jerseys going hard to the net, so I knew that if I put the puck there he's got a pretty good chance at hitting it home."

Hathaway scored into an empty net at 18:33 for the 3-1 final.
"We knew if we got one in the third there, we'd be able to get on them and build that momentum," Robinson said. "We had a few chances to tie it. It seemed like one was going to go in. It just didn't happen."
NOTES: Ovechkin is the fourth player to score 750 NHL goals, joining Jagr, Gordie Howe (801) and Wayne Gretzky (894). Ovechkin tied Phil Esposito (118) for third in NHL game-winning goals. Jagr is first with 135 and Howe is second with 121. ... Capitals forwards T.J. Oshie (lower body) and Conor Sheary (upper body) returned after each missed six games. Oshie played 16:23, and Sheary played 15:48 with two shots on goal. ... Defenseman Matt Irwin played 17:49 in his Capitals debut. ... Danforth won five of seven face-offs in his first NHL game at center. ... Robinson ended an eight-game point drought.