After the Capitals fell 1-0 behind in the first period, Rangers defender Ryan Lindgren tried to send a message early in the second time Alex Ovechkin in the Rangers’ defensive zone with a big open iron hit. Ovi, trying to create a one-on-two, sees Lindgren coming and delivers a counter to Lindgren who breaks the gr8’s stick in half. Both Lindgren and Ovechkin shrank to the ice after their bodies collided violently.
“It was a big fight,” Ovechkin told NBC Sports Washington after the game. “That was the style of hockey I liked.”
Lindgren hit
The Rangers, like so many teams before them, have learned that he takes the body to Ovi, making him angry and more determined.
“When I coached other teams against him, I told him not to do it,” former Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau remarked during the NBC Sports Washington series. ‘Let him sleep! Let him sleep! ”
In the third period, with the Capitals’ winning streak at stake, Ovechkin took over, scored twice on the same plays and gave the Capitals an unlikely 2-1 victory.
Ovi’s two goals
Ovi’s first goal was with 6:42 left in the third period. After Justin Schultz put a one-off on the net, Ovi won his battle in front of the net and found Alexandar Georgiev’s rebound. He shuffled the shooter home to tie it 1-1.
Ovechkin passed again three minutes and nine seconds later after an amazing pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov. Kuzy found John Carlson for a one-time person. Ovi, who drove hard to the net, pushed teammate Garnet Hathaway out of the way and held back the setback in the gaping net.
Shout. Four. Win.
The goals were Ovechkin’s 13th and 14th seasons and the 719th and 720th scores of his career. It was the 147th multi-goal game of his career, connecting Ovi to Gordie Howe for the fourth time. Ovechkin also bound Mark Messier for the seventh most equal goal in NHL history (452).
With that 2nd score (one that turns out to be the winner in a 2-1 @Hoofstede the defeat of the Rangers tonight), Ovechkin also tied Mark Messier’s 452 for the 7th career, even strength, by a player in NHL history https://t.co/wk9wPlShDT
– StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) 20 March 2021
The goal was Ovechkin’s 115th game goal, the fourth place of all time.
Alex Ovechkin scored the 115th game goal of his career against the Rangers, three screams to tie Phil Esposito for third place in NHL history.
– CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) 20 March 2021
Ovechkin has scored in five consecutive games and has scored eight goals in his last ten games.
I’m glad to report that Alex Ovechkin is doing Alex Ovechkin stuff again. Last ten matches:
• 8 goals
• 47 shots on goal
• 94 shot attempts
• Goals in five consecutive matches– Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) 20 March 2021
“Sometimes you have to make it dirty, dirty,” Ovechkin said. ‘It’s still the same, whether it’s a goal on my part or whatever. These were important goals and I will accept them. ”
is it, ovi’s new office? 😏 pic.twitter.com/ZQbienQ5Cm
– Washington Capitals (@Capitals) 20 March 2021
Very rarely can a hockey player put a team on its back and carry them across the finish line like in basketball. A star skater in hockey will play just as much as a third of a game (20 minutes). But in the third period, Ovi made his best Michael Jordan impression against a team they are struggling against.
Ovechkin leads the capitals with points (7) he has scored in the last ten minutes of regulation and in overtime this season.
– CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) 20 March 2021
With the win, the Capitals won all seven games that Tom Wilson was out for suspension.
RMNB coverage of Caps vs Rangers
Screenshot thanks to NBC Sports Washington