Washington Capitals Cool Calgary Flames, Win 5-2 To Move Into Second Wild-Card; Ovechkin Earns 19th Straight 20-Goal Season


Photo by Gerry Thomas/NHLI via Getty Images

The Washington Capitals extinguished the Calgary Flames by a score of 5-2 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday night for their third straight win. The team also improved to 11-5-2 (.667 points percentage) over the last five weeks. Washington, who went 3-2-0 over their five-game Northwest road trip, vaulted to 33-25-9 (.560) overall this season. Goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 34 saves in the victory.

Washington’s Lines

Alex Ovechkin — Connor McMichael — T.J. Oshie
Ivan Miroshnichenko — Dylan Strome — Tom Wilson
Max Pacioretty — Hendrix Lapierre — Sonny Milano
Beck Malenstyn — Nic Dowd — Aliaskei Protas

Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin — Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev  — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper

Scratched: C Michael Sgarbossa, RW Nicolas Aube-Kubel, D Ethan Bear

Injured: C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)

Calgary’s Lines

Jonathan Huberdeau — Nazem Kadri — Martin Pospisil
Andrew Mangiapane — Mikael Backlund — Blake Coleman
Dryden Hunt — Yegor Sharangovich — Andrei Kuzmenko
A.J. Greer — Kevin Rooney — Matt Coronato

Oliver Kylington — Rasmus Andersson
MacKenzie Weegar — Daniil Miromanov
Joel Hanley — Brayden Pachal

Dustin Wolf
Dan Vladar

Scratched: RW Jakob Pelletier, RW Walker Duehr, D Dennis Gilbert, D Nikita Okhotiuk

Injured: C Dillon Dube (personal), C Connor Zary (upper-body), G Jacob Markstrom (lower-body)

FIRST PERIOD

Scoring

14:59, 1-0 Washington: Strome ripped a wrister under the blocker of Wolf from the right dot to finish off a cycling play that started after Malenstyn got the puck off of the forecheck, Strome fed Jensen at the top from the goal-line, and Jensen hit Sandin at the left dot before Sandin sent the puck across to Strome. Ten of Sandin’s 18 assists this season have been primaries. Strome has now scored 23 goals in 69 games in the month of March during his career, the most of any calendar month. Strome has tied his single-season career-high in goals (2022-23: 23 goals in 81 games) in his 67th outing of the campaign.

Shots: 12-8 Calgary

Other Notable Stats: 4-1 Calgary in hits, 10-9 Calgary in blocked shots

Screenshots: Natural StatTrick

SECOND PERIOD

Scoring

5:58, 2-0 (PPG): Ovechkin tipped in Pacioretty’s wrister from the left dot in front of the goal past the glove of Wolf  after Wilson spun around and dished a loose puck behind him to Pacioretty in the slot. Wilson (16 goals in 65 games) reached the 30-point mark for the sixth time in his career. Pacioretty’s seven power-play assists this season rank fourth on Washington. Wolf marks the fifth new goaltender Ovechkin has scored on this season, joining Joseph Woll (10/24/23 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs), Yaroslav Askarov (12/30/23 vs. Nashville Predators), Alex Nedeljkovic (1/2/24 at Pittsburgh Penguins) and Samuel Ersson (3/1/24 vs. Philadelphia Flyers). Wolf became the 174th different goaltender that Ovechkin has scored on in his career. Only Jaromir Jagr (178) and Patrick Marleau (177) have scored on more goaltenders in NHL history. Ovechkin became the only player in NHL history to record 19 consecutive 20-goal seasons from the start of his career and the fifth player in NHL history to reach the 20-goal mark 19 times. He also became only the third to record 19 straight 20-goal seasons (Gordie Howe: 22; Brendan Shanahan: 19).

9:16, 3-0 (PPG): Ovechkin blasted a one-timer from the left circle past the blocker of Wolf after Carlson fed him from the point, Strome gave the puck to Carlson from the right dot, and the shot ramped up off of Andersson’s stick. Strome has reached the 30-assist mark for the third time in his career. With the assist, Carlson has reached the 40-point mark for the seventh time in his career. That ties Scott Stevens and Kevin Hatcher for the most 40-point seasons by a defenseman in franchise history. Ovechkin has 170 multi-goal games in his career. Only Wayne Gretzky (189) has more multi-goal games in NHL history. Monday’s contest marks Ovechkin’s 24th career game with multiple power-play goals. He now has multi-goal games against 94 different goalies – the most in NHL history. Wayne Gretzky ranks second on the list with 89.

10:41, 3-1: Pachal backhanded a shot that Rooney tapped into an empty net by the left pad of Lindgren after Conorato flew into the offensive zone and set Pachal up in the slot. Washington challenged the goal for goaltender interference with two bodies swarming the crease but came up unsuccessful.

14:22, 4-1: Lapierre hammered a floating puck in front of Wolf after Milano, who caught the puck rimming around the boards at the point, sent it past the Calgary defense and to Lapierre, who recorded eight points (six goals) in his last 11 games. Lapierre’s eight points since February 26 rank third among NHL rookies, trailing only Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard (four goals, 13 points in nine games) and Dallas Stars center Logan Stankoven (five goals, nine points in 13 games). Milano has recorded five assists in his last four games against Calgary dating back to last season.

Shots: 23-23, including 15-11 Washington in the second

Other Notable Stats: 17-12 Washington in blocked shots, 10-4 Calgary in hits, Washington went two-for-three on power plays while Calgary did not convert on two through 40

THIRD PERIOD

Scoring

7:13, 4-2: Weegar teed one up, wound up, and blasted a slapper past the blocker of Lindgren off of the faceoff win by Backlund.

17:31, 5-2 (ENG): Wilson chased a loose puck, chipped it past Weegar at center ice, and raced in to pot one into the empty cage after Malenstyn broke up a passing play in front and sent him in all alone.

Shots: 36-33 Calgary, including 13-10 in the third

Other Notable Stats: 24-22 Calgary in blocked shots, 15-10 Calgary in hits, Calgary finished 0-for-three on the power play

Standings

Washington passed the Detroit Red Wings (with a game in hand) by one point for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and is three behind the Tampa Bay Lightning (with each team having played 67 games) for the first. In addition, they are one back of the Philadelphia Flyers (one in hand) for third place in the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals lead the New York Islanders (with each team having played 67 games) by three points, Pittsburgh Penguins (67) and Buffalo Sabres (one in hand) by six, and New Jersey Devils (one in hand) by seven in the Eastern Conference wild-card standings.

Next game: Wednesday vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (7:30 PM ET, TNT)

By Harrison Brown





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