What A Rush! Capitals Line Rush Of The Game: Another Day, Another Milestone For No. 8

Photo: Mike Stobe/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals scored three unanswered goals in the third period after entering the period trailing 1-0 in their game against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum/NYCB Live despite controlling the play for most of the game. For tonight’s rush, we picked captain Alex Ovechkin’s power-play goal, which stood up as the game-winner and made NHL history: it marked Ovechkin’s 10th 45-goal season, an all-time record.

Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov threw the puck on net and Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss blocked the shot and tried to clear it. Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck reached for the puck, but Ovechkin knocked the puck into the air and arced over Greiss’ head and into the goal. The goal gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead 68 seconds after Washington’s Jakub Vrana tied the game in the third.

The ice view level below gives us a closer look on how Ovechkin just bumped the puck into the air with the upper part of the stick. He was on the doorstep to poke it in after Greiss couldn’t control the puck with a scramble in front.

Pretty sure I’m a poor man’s, poor man’s @Mitch_Tischler #LetsGoCaps pic.twitter.com/k5DW1c1s3j

— Christian Matthews (@cmatthews58) March 2, 2019

The goal was his 45th of the season, marking his NHL-record 10th time doing so. Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy accomplished the feat nine times during their careers.

The goal was also Ovechkin’s 106th game-winning goal, tying Toronto Maple Leafs forward Patrick Marleau for seventh all-time. Ovechkin goal the goal in 570 fewer games than Marleau.

Ovechkin recorded his 652nd career goal on the play, which is four behind Brendan Shanahan for 13th all-time; his 244th power-play goal, which is two behind Phil Esposito for fifth all-time; and his 1197th career-point, which draws him to within three points of Dino Ciccarelli for 47th all-time.

Will @ovi8 ever stop scoring clutch goals? 🔥#NHLStats x @SAPSports pic.twitter.com/5ssQXudlWi

— NHL (@NHL) March 2, 2019

All of those records were so impressive, even a journalist from Pittsburgh Sports Live couldn’t help but admire the 33-year old Russian’s achievement.