When Alex Ovechkin took an accidental stick to the face, causing him to bleed, his Washington Capitals teammates had a feeling it wouldn’t bode well for the New Jersey Devils.
Undeterred by the bloody mouth, Ovechkin returned to the ice with a vengeance, notching his 25th career hat trick to lead the Capitals to a 5-2 win over the Devils on Thursday night. While Ovechkin knew New Jersey’s Miles Wood didn’t mean to high-stick him and the referees didn’t catch it, that didn’t stop him from making the Devils pay with his second consecutive multi-goal game.
“He always plays better when he’s a little (angry), so there you go,” Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom said. “It was drawn up like that. He came back, got a little mad, scored two, and then he was just waiting for the third. That’s just the story of Ovi.”
Ovechkin’s three goals brought his season total to 31, making him and Mike Gartner the only players in NHL history to score 30 or more goals in each of their first 15 seasons. With five goals over the past two games, Ovechkin now has 689 career goals, just one shy of tying Mario Lemieux for 10th place on the NHL’s all-time list.
“It never gets old, but without my team, without my teammates, I’d never reach that milestone, I’d never reach those numbers,” Ovechkin said. “(Lemieux was) one of my idols growing up. I was lucky to play against him and be on the ice with him a few times. It’s huge.”
Carl Hagelin and Jakub Vrana also scored for Washington, which has bounced back with two straight wins since a 5-1 loss to the Devils five days earlier. This time, the Capitals looked much more like a first-place team.
“I think we talked about it a lot going into the Carolina game (Monday) and then followed that up with tonight in terms of playing against the same team that we didn’t like our effort against,” defenseman John Carlson said. “You want to feel good about yourself.”
Ovechkin scored twice against Louis Domingue, who left after the first period with a lower-body injury. The Capitals added three more goals against Cory Schneider, who came on in relief for the second consecutive game and stopped 20 of 23 shots.
“Goalies played really well tonight,” Devils interim coach Alain Nasreddine said. “We were timid. We didn’t really get to a lot of pucks first in any area of the ice.”
Capitals rookie goaltender Ilya Samsonov made 32 saves on 34 shots, earning his ninth consecutive win in his first back-to-back starts this season. Wayne Simmonds ended Samsonov’s shutout streak at 135 minutes with a goal early in the second period, snapping a run of 55 consecutive saves.
Ovechkin’s second goal came on the power play, which has now scored in three consecutive games. New Jersey’s Blake Coleman also scored a short-handed goal early in the third period.
The Devils have now lost two straight after being defeated by the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ovechkin, who continues to amaze even his teammates as he closes in on 700 goals.
“He is a goal-scorer, probably one of the best in history, and still has time to be the best,” Vrana said. “He’s got an amazing shot, and he’s using it. I mean, you guys all know what kind of player he is.”
Game Notes:
- Devils F Kevin Rooney missed the game due to illness.
- Simmonds’ goal ended a 27-game drought.
- Carlson picked up his 45th assist of the season with a secondary assist on Ovechkin’s third goal, bringing his point total to 58.
- Vrana’s goal was his 21st of the season, while Hagelin scored his second.
UP NEXT:
- Devils: Continue their four-game road trip with a visit to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
- Capitals: Travel to face the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon before their break for the bye week and All-Star Weekend.
