Alex Ovechkin is breathing more and more down the neck of La Merveille. But despite his 18th goal of the season, the Tsar’s performance was not enough to allow the Washington Capitals to win on Thursday. The team from the American capital was defeated 4-3 in a shootout by the Minnesota Wild.
As a result, Ovechkin’s goal allows him to come within 23 goals of Wayne Gretzky, who sits at the top of the goals scored column with 894 since the 1998-1999 season. At the rate Ovi is scoring goals, he could double that before the end of the season.
Ovechkin beat Quebecer Marc-André Fleury for the 41st time in his career. His goal then created a 2-2 tie in the game. In the shootout, however, Ovechkin was frustrated by Fleury, which sealed the outcome of the match.
Of the six shooters in the shootout, only Matt Boldy found the back of the net against Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren, who faced 33 shots in regulation.
Additionally, Ovechkin scored 20 or more goals in the regular season against an 18th-ranked team. Gretzky is the holder of this tour de force with 21 clubs on his list.
Tom Wilson’s 15th goal of the season put the Capitals ahead in the first period before seeing the Wild respond with two goals to take the initiative in the game through Ryan Hartman and Yakov Trenin shorthanded. Marco Rossi leveled the odds 3-3 midway through for the Wild. It was the third time this season that Rossi scored the equalizer in a game with less than ten minutes remaining.
Martin Fehervary scored his first goal of the campaign for the Capitals on an assist from Pierre-Luc Dubois in the third.
