Capitals Slash Golden Knights 5-2, Alex Ovechkin Records 31st Career Hat Trick; Chychrun, Vrana Score


Photo: @Capitals

The Washington Capitals bested the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The victory moved the Capitals’ record to 12-4-1 and 25 points on the season.
SUMMARY
The Capitals downed the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday night in Sin City to secure their twelfth win on the young 2024-25 season. The Caps’ victory was aided by three goals from Alex Ovechkin, who now sits 29 goals shy of passing Wayne Gretzky for the most goals in NHL history. Jakob Chychrun and Jakub Vrana also added tallies in the win. Logan Thompson recorded 39 saves in his return to Vegas, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2023.

LINEUP

Logan Thompson (7-0-1, 2.71 GAA, .906 SV%) got the start between the pipes for the visiting Capitals. Former Capitals netminder Ilya Samsonv (3-1-1, 2.95 GAA, .906 SV%) got the start in goal for the Vegas Knights. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:

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

Jakob Chychrun – John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin – Matt Roy
Martin Fehervary – Trevor van Riemsdyk

Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: Center Hendrix Lapierre and defensemen Dylan McIlrath and Alexander Alexeyev

Injured: Left-wing Sonny Milano (upper-body), center Nicklas Backstrom (hip), and right-wing T.J. Oshie (back)

1ST PERIOD

Alex Ovechkin put the Capitals on the board at 05:59 with his 11th goal of the season on the power play; John Carlson and Dylan Strome recorded the assists on the goal. The Capitals’ captain moved within 31 goals of passing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record with the tally.

Around seven minutes later, Jakob Chychrun notched his fifth goal of 2024-25, giving Washington the two-goal lead on an assist from Dylan Strome.

At the 19:52 mark, Brett Howden trimmed the Caps’ lead in half with his seventh goal of the season; Alex Pietrangelo and Tanner Pearson recorded the assists on the goal, which came on an odd carom off the boards.

The teams ended the first frame with the Capitals leading the Golden Knights 2-1, and outshooting their hosts by a 12-6 margin.

2ND PERIOD

Jakub Vrana put a stop to an early period momentum swing for the Golden Knights with 17:11 left in the middle frame, scoring his fourth goal of the season to give the Caps their two-goal lead back; Aliaksei Protas and Rasmus Sandin recorded the assists on the play.

Keegan Kolesar answered around five minutes later, cutting the lead of Washington to one on assists from Tomas Hertl and Jack Eichel.

Alex Ovechkin added his scond of the night with 2:17 left in the middle frame, tallying goal number twelve on the season to give the Caps yet another, two-goal cushion. Matt Roy picked up the assist on the goal.

The second 20 minutes concluded with the Caps still ahead and extending their shot advantage to 19-17 through 40 minutes of regulation time.

3RD PERIOD 

Alex Ovechkin added an empty-net goal for his 13th goal of the season and the hat trick of the night, moving him to within in 29 of becoming the NHL’s all-time Goals leader.

SHAVINGS

  • NHL Box Score
  • Ilya Samsonov marked the 177th goaltender on which Alex Ovechkin has scored in his career, tying Patrick Marleau for the second-most goalies scored on in NHL history, behind only Jaromir Jagr’s 178.

About Michael Fleetwood

Michael Fleetwood was born into a family of diehard Capitals fans and has been watching games as long as he can remember. He was born the year the Capitals went to their first Stanley Cup Final, and is a diehard Caps fan, the owner of the very FIRST Joe Beninati jersey and since then, has met Joe himself.

Michael joined the NoVa Caps team in 2015, and is most proud of the growth of the NoVa Caps community in that time. An avid photographer, Michael resides in VA.





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