Capitals Fall To Flames, 3-1; Alex Ovechkin Scores Career Goal 883


Photo: @Capitals

The Washington Capitals fell to the Calgary Flames, 3-1, Tuesday night at Capital One Arena in Washington. The loss drops the Capitals’ record to 38-12-8 (84 points) on the season.

LINEUP

Logan Thompson (25-2-5, 2.25 GAA, .920 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Capitals. Dan Vladar (7-10-5, 3.07 GAA, .888 sv%) got the start in goal for the visiting Flames. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Aliaksei Protas
Connor McMichael — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Tom Wilson
Andrew Mangiapane – Lars Eller — Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Taylor Raddysh

Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: Jakub Vrana, Dylan McIlrath, Alexander Alexeyev.

Injured: Sonny Milano (upper-body), Nicklas Backstrom (hip), T.J. Oshie (back).

1ST PERIOD

The Flames opened the scoring in the second half of the opening frame with a tally from Martin Pospisil (4) at 11:47. I. Solovyov (1) and R. Lomberg (6) had the helpers.

The Flames extended their lead to 2-0 late in the period on a breakaway snipe by Matt Coronado (15) at 16:42. K. Bahl (13) had the lone assist.

The Flames held the 2-0 lead into the first intermission. The Flames dominated five-on-five shot attempts, 25-15, and expected goals for, 1.16 to 0.68.

2ND PERIOD

The Capitals and Flames skated to a scoreless draw in the middle frame. It was the first time the Capitals were scoreless after two periods on home ice all season.

The Capitals dominated the five-on-five shot attempts, 26-5, and led in expected goals for, 0.58 to 0.52.

3RD PERIOD

The Capitals got on the board with a power play goal from Alex Ovechkin (30) at 4:52 of the final frame. John Carlson (35) and Dylan Strome (41) had the assists. Ovechkin is 12 goals shy of passing Wayne Gretzky (894g) for the most goals in NHL history.

Ovechkin has reached the 30-goal mark for the 19th time in his 20-year career. Ovechkin’s 19 30-goal seasons are the most in NHL history. He has eight goals in his last eight games.

Ovechkin, 39, is the fourth player in NHL history to score 30 goals at age 39 or older, joining Gordie Howe (44g in 1968-69 at age 40, 39g in 1967-68 at age 39 & 31g in 1969-70 at age 42), Johnny Bucyk (36g in 1975-76 at age 40) and Teemu Selanne (31g in 2010-11 at age 40).

Ovechkin scored his 30th goal of 2024-25 in his 42nd game of the season and is the only player in NHL history to reach the 30-goal mark at age 39 or older in fewer than 50 games.

However, the Flames added a late goal from Jonathan Huberdeau (22) at 15:32 to seal the victory for the Flames. N. Kadri (23) had the lone assist.

That would be the final.

About Jon Sorensen

Jon has been a Caps fan since day one, attending his first game at the Capital Centre in 1974. His interest in the Caps has grown over the decades and included time as a season ticket holder. He has been a journalist covering the team for 10+ years, primarily focusing on analysis, analytics and prospect development.





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