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Alex Ovechkin didn鈥檛 know it at the time, but during Saturday鈥檚 game against the Senators, he was involved in a wildly entertaining goals race.
Rangers forward Chris Kreider scored his 27th, 28th and 29th goals of the season in a game against the Coyotes to catapult himself into the league lead in goals 鈥斅燽ut for only a few minutes each time. With the Capitals down by two, Ovechkin single-handedly rallied the team and in doing so, put himself in a tie at the top of the NHL鈥檚 goals list.
Ovechkin scored his 28th and 29th goals in the third period – the only Capitals goals of regulation – to tie the game and force overtime. There, Nicklas Backstrom netted the winner to give Washington a 3-2 win on a night when it took a while to get things rolling.
鈥淥bviously we knew it was going to be a hard game,鈥� Ovechkin said. 鈥淲e knew they were going to come out flying and play physical. They young, they fast team. Obviously I think the goalie makes a couple big saves, especially in the second period and we just keep grinding it out and try to find a way to get a win like that.鈥�
It took a while for the offense to get started, as they didn鈥檛 have an even strength shot in the entire first period. But at five-on-five, the Capitals ended up owning a majority of the shot attempts, shots, scoring chances and high-danger chances through the entire 60 minutes of regulation.
But even with an improving effort, and improvement at even strength, the Capitals still trailed by two entering the third period. Then, one of the NHL鈥檚 best goal scorers took command.
鈥淗e scored a ton of goals, when you鈥檝e got him on our team it鈥檚 a great thing,鈥� defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk said. 鈥淎s he鈥檚 shown in the past, great individual efforts where if he gets an inch of space, he can get that shot off. It鈥檚 tough on any goalie and he showed it again tonight.鈥�
Ovechkin鈥檚 night was another standout performance for the 36-year-old, who is now just seven goals away from tying Jaromir Jagr for third all-time on the NHL鈥檚 goals list with 766 tallies.
鈥淚t seemed like to me we were on point, it鈥檚 gotta come from the top for me when you鈥檙e starting a game and when you鈥檙e going through a game,鈥� coach Peter Laviolette said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 gotta be Ovi, it鈥檚 gotta be Backy, it鈥檚 gotta be Tom, it鈥檚 gotta be Kuzy, it鈥檚 gotta be the guys that are out there, hands on the rope first.鈥�
But as shown in the third period, when Ovechkin is the one leading the charge, he can be enough to swing a game.
鈥淚 think we just needed to stay positive, it wasn鈥檛 like we were playing a bad game,鈥� van Riemsdyk said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we gave up very much as far as chances go鈥n the third, we just knew we had to get one early and that鈥檒l change the tide and you start getting that momentum and you just try to ride that. We had 鈥極鈥� on our team, which is always good.鈥�
