Ovechkin makes history with hat trick as Caps beat Blackhawks originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Capitals jumped out to an early 2-0 lead Tuesday behind a pair of Alex Ovechkin goals and he completed the hat trick to join the NHL’s 800-goal club and lead a 7-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks that gave Washington its longest winning streak in two seasons.
With Ovechkin entering the contest sitting on 797 career goals, he scored twice in the first period and once more in the third to bring his NHL total to the elusive 800 mark — a threshold only Hall of Famers Gordie Howe (801) and Wayne Gretzky (894) had reached. His multi-goal effort was the 162nd of his career, breaking a tie with Jaromir Jagr for the most all time.
The goals also propelled Washington to its fifth straight victory and eighth in its last 11 overall. Reigning First Star of the Week Charlie Lindgren once again got the start in net for the injured Darcy Kuemper (upper body, day-to-day) and he carried over his strong play, stopping 26 of 29 shots to extend his own personal winning streak as well.
Ovechkin’s first tally came just 24 seconds into the contest. The Capitals generated a shot on goal off a faceoff that bounced off Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek. John Carlson took control of the puck by the boards and passed it over to Ovechkin in the left circle. He took advantage of a fortuitous bounce and got a shot off between two Chicago defensemen.
Midway through the period, it was Ovechkin finding the back of the net once again. Conor Sheary hit him with a pass behind the net and he found the corner of the post before anyone on Chicago could, forcing the puck through.
Though Chicago would get one back in the final minute of the period on a goal by center Tyler Johnson made possible by Capitals defenseman Matt Irwin tripping over Lindgren’s skate, the Capitals responded early in the second.
Ovechkin once again had the puck in a dangerous area, but this time he decided there was too much traffic in front of him to get a shot off. The veteran winger found Trevor van Riemsdyk wide open in the low slot for an easy goal that he snuck behind Mrazek.
The Blackhawks and Capitals kept trading goals from there. Chicago center Jonathan Toews was credited with a power-play goal when a loose puck bounced off Dmitry Orlov’s stick into the net. Washington pushed its lead back up to two goals when Nic Dowd completed a vertical play off a strong pass by Garnet Hathaway.
Ovechkin then helped the Capitals put the game away by scoring his third goal of the night, picking up a puck set up by Anthony Mantha up front and firing it into the top of the net for the historic tally.
Mantha then scored an insurance goal later in the period before Blackhawks winger Max Domi and Dmitry Orlov exchanged goals in the final two minutes to set up the 7-3 final score.
With the win, the Capitals pulled to 15-12-4 with 34 points toward the Metropolitan Division standings. They’ll look to stay hot when they return home Thursday for a matchup with the Dallas Stars as Ovechkin stares down No. 800.
