Capitals at Blackhawks Recap: History-Breaking Night for Ovechkin Leads to Fifth Straight Win

On a night full of record-breaking goals, Caps grab their fifth straight win.

Game Summary – Event Summary – Shot Summary – Face-off Summary – Play By Play – Home TOI – Visitor TOI – HockeyViz – Money Puck – Natural Stat Trick

If there was ever a trap game then this was it. The Chicago Blackhawks are not a good team and they were currently 1-10-1 in their last 12. Classic Caps would let this game slip but with a hole they are already in they can’t take any game for granted.

And they certainly didn’t with a huge, historical night from the Great Eight. It was their fifth win in a row, obviously their longest of the season and first time in two seasons.

Plus: I mean… Ovechkin scored his 798th, 799th, and 800th goal and broke a series of records with each one. You can’t ask for much more.

Minus: From the time Ovechkin scored his second goal to when Chicago scored their second goal, the Capitals did their classic “play down” style they tend to do when they play a bad team. It didn’t cost them this time but it has many times, like the Arizona game earlier this season. You want to see that kind of thing not happen anymore but don’t think we’ll ever get there.

A few more notes on the game:

• Caps came out hot with an Ovechkin goal just just 24 seconds into the game. With that goal he broke not one but two records: first was scoring the most opening goals all time, passing Jaromir Jagr, and second was passing Brett Hull for 66th time he scored the opening goal on the road. Dude is a history making machine.

• And guess what, he struck around eight minutes later on the power play giving the Capitals a 2-0 lead. It put Ovechkin just one goal short of 800. It was also the 165th different goalie he’s scored on, putting him third on that list. Every game seems like history.

• The Blackhawks came back with a couple good shifts catching the Caps sleeping but first star of the week, Charlie Lindren, came up with some big saves to keep the lead or the Caps.
• With a minute left in the period, Matt Irwin backed into Lindgren, knocking him to the ice. He almost recovered in time to make an amazing save but Tyler Johnson whipped it by him to cut the Caps lead to 2-1.
• The Blackhawks drew a power play early in the second and if it wasn’t for Lindgren for making two huge saves, Chicago would have tied it up easily.

• And thankfully he did because it allowed the first line to go down the ice getting Ovechkin the puck who backhanded it on net, deflected off the goaltender into the slot giving Trevor Van Riemsdyk the Caps the 3-1 lead. Making it his second goal in two straight games.

• The Blackhawks drew another power play off an offensive zone penalty, which is never good, and they cut the Caps lead to just 3-2. It was a lucky bounce that went off Orlov’s stick but the Caps weren’t playing well so they deserved it.
• The fourth line came up with a big goal less than three minutes left in the second period. It was basically a 2-on-0 when Kubel fed Hathaway in front of the net. Garnett lost his handle but did feed it to Dowd in the slot who ripped it top corner.

• And it happened, more history. Ovechkin scored his 800th goal, just the third player to ever do it. It’s very fitting it was a hat trick to make it happen. We’re extremely spoiled as Caps fans.

-And the Caps weren’t done just yet. Mantha got in on the action with a snipe of a shot coming down the left wing. He’s been putting up quality chances as of late but nothing was going in for him as much as they should so it was good to see him score.

• Very few things I hate more than garbage time goals. With exactly one minute left in the game Chicago scored their third goal, which is a shame for Lindgren who played so well.
• Of course then Orlov decided to make the extra point and scored with a bomb from the point to give the Caps a resounding 7-3 win.

Up Next: Caps take on the Dallas Stars at home this Thursday 7PM… as Ovechkin sets his sights on the next milestone.