The Tsar took another step towards the Wonder in a 3-2 victory for the Washington Capitals over the Nashville Predators on Wednesday.
Alex Ovechkin scored the 861st goal of his career, which ranks him 33 behind Wayne Gretzky. His goal turned out to be the winning goal in the third period.
Ovi has been driving at breakneck speed for several games. His goal allowed him to become the third player in NHL history to score in five straight games at the age of 39 or older. Before him, Brett Hull with the Detroit Red Wings scored in seven straight games in 2003 while Johnny Bucyk found the back of the net six times with the Boston Bruins during the 1974-1975 season.
It was the first time Ovechkin faced his former head coach Barry Trotz, who is now the general manager of the Predators. Ovechkin led the League with 185 goals during Trotz’s four seasons behind the Capitals bench from 2014-2015 to 2017-2018, capped by winning the Stanley Cup and the Conn-Smythe Trophy.
Incidentally, this is the 1000th victory for the Capitals since Ted Leonsis owned the team.
Both teams responded blow for blow each time one of them found the back of the net during the first two periods.
Juuso Parssinen put the Predators ahead at 3:12 of the first period with a deflection. Just 74 seconds later, Connor McMichael scored his eighth of the season on passes from Matt Roy and Pierre-Luc Dubois to tie the game 1-1.
With the goal, McMichael became the fifth Capitals player in the last 20 years to have a streak of five home games with at least one goal. Ovechkin dominates this category for the Capitals. He achieved the feat eight times.
In the second period, Aliaksei Protas gave the Capitals the lead for the first time in the game by completing a superb passing sequence between Dylan Strome and Ovechkin, barely 31 seconds before Steven Stamkos scored his third with his new team using a very nice redirect to make 2-2.
Goalie Logan Thompson was Stamkos’ 148th career victim, which ranks fourth all-time among active players against goaltenders he’s scored against. He is only ahead of Ovechkin (176), Sidney Crosby (150) and Evgeni Malkin (149) in this regard.
Furthermore, Thompson improved his record to 6-0-0 in his first six games in net for the Capitals, which allows him to tie Tomas Vokoun’s mark for the longest winning streak by a goalie in his career. debut with the team.
Ovechkin finally put the Capitals ahead with his eighth of the campaign with a one-timer from the slot at 10:25. This is his 130th career winning goal, which puts him within five of the leader, Jaromir Jagr, who has 135.
