The Washington Capitals downed the Ottawa Senators, 7-5, Monday night at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Canada. The victory improves the Capitals record to 4-0-2 (10 points) on the season.
The Senators opened the scoring less than three minutes into the contest with a goal from Drake Batherson, but the Capitals would storm back with a pair of goals from T.J. Oshie, a goal from Nick Jensen and a goal from John Carlson to take a 4-1 lead at the first intermission.
The Senators cut the Capitals lead to two with an early goal in the middle frame from Josh Norris and made it a one-goal game with a tally from Chris Tierney midway through the second period. The Senators would then tie the game, 4-4, on Drake Batherson’s second tally of the game. Alex Ovechkin would stop the bleeding with his 6th goal of the season to make it 5-3 and TJ Oshie would record his third goal of the game to give the Capitals a 6-4 lead at the second intermission.
The Senators’ Drake Batherson would get his hat trick midway through the final frame to make it 6-5, but Alex Ovechkin would score his second goal of the game to make it 7-5 late in the final frame. That would be the final.
GAME STATS
STARTERS
Ilya Samsonov (1-0-0, 2.34 GAA, .902 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the visiting Capitals. Anton Forsberg (1-2-0, 3.45 GAA, .913 sv%) got the start for the Senators. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:
#Caps‘ lines/pairs at Ottawa:
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 43-Wilson
39-Mantha, 24-McMichael, 77-Oshie
62-Hagelin, 20-Eller, 21-Hathaway
73-Sheary, 29-Lapierre, 10-Sprong42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 3-Jensen
57-van Riemsdyk, 2-SchultzSamsonov vs. Forsberg. #CapsSens
— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) October 25, 2021
Scratches: Dennis Cholowski, Matt Irwin, Nicklas Backstrom (IR).
FIRST PERIOD
The Senators opened the scoring with a goal from Drake Batherson (2) at 3:37 of the first frame. Brady Tkachuk pressured Martin Fehervary in the right corner, causing a turnover. The puck went directly to Batherson, who beat Samsonov high to the short side from outside the right circle. The goal was unassisted.
Drake Batherson gets the #Sens on the board early! pic.twitter.com/Wpo8LsAzF6
— Alex Metzger (@nhlsensandstuff) October 25, 2021
The Capitals would tie the game less than five minutes later with a goal from T.J. Oshie (2) at 6:26 of the first frame. Trevor van Riemsdyk (4) had the lone assist.
Don’t leave @TJOshie77 alone in front ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/ZaMlWeUUGK
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 25, 2021
The Capitals would take the lead on a second goal from TJ Oshie (3) at 11:10 of the first period. Anthony Mantha (2) and Connor McMichael (1) had the assists. It was McMichael’s first NHL point.
That angle tho 😅 pic.twitter.com/7QVmREoI03
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 25, 2021
The Capitals would quickly make it 3-1 with a goal from Nick Jensen (2) at 13:37 of the first period. Dmitry Orlov (3) had the lone assist.
THE STICKS ARE HOT! pic.twitter.com/VI5hlL1QFV
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 25, 2021
The Capitals would make it 4-1 with a tally from John Carlson (1) at 15:43 of the first frame. Lars Eller (2) and Martin Fehervary (1) had the assists. It was Fehervary’s second career assist.
The goals are pouring in! pic.twitter.com/6XaiUgq0Ul
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 25, 2021
The period would end with the Capitals leading 4-1. The Capitals led in shot attempts 25-17 and scoring chances for, 59.09% to 46.08%. The senators led in expected goals .86 to .74. Ottawa led the battle at the dot 64-36%.
SECOND PERIOD
The Senators would cut the Capitals lead to two goals with a goal from Josh Norris (3) at 5:57 of the second period.
Hammered home 🔨#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/6o3zhIeszX
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 26, 2021
The Senators would then cut the Capitals lead to a single goal with a power play goal from Chris Tierney (4) at 9:36 of the second period. Tyler Ennis (3) and Thomas Chabot (2) had the assists.
Ok, this one went in off of Tierney’s blade 😂#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/prTCEJVFuL
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 26, 2021
The Senators would tie the game with a goal from Drake Batherson (3) at 11:16 of the second period. Brady Tkachuk (2) had the lone assist. It was Batherson’s second goal of the game.
Incredible patience‼️#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/3albrFijIv
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 26, 2021
The Capitals would stop the bleeding with a goal from the Captain, Alex Ovechkin (6) at 16:27 of the second period. The goal was unassisted.
The man is on a mission pic.twitter.com/319p1x6lgs
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 26, 2021
T.J. Oshie would complete the hat trick with his third goal of the game to give the Capitals a 6-4 lead at 19:52 of the second period. Connor McMichael (2) had the lone helper.
Throw em 🎩 pic.twitter.com/e2laZjy64g
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 26, 2021
The period would end with the Capitals leading 5-4. The Capitals led in shot attempts 18-15 in the second period.
THIRD PERIOD
The Senators would close the gap to one with Drake Batherson’s third goal of the game at 6:32 of the final frame.
🗣️ DRAKE BATHERSON HAT-TRICK‼️#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/TiaBrcfTrm
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 26, 2021
The Capitals would stretch their lead to 7-5 with a second goal from Alex Ovechkin (7) at 10:46 of the third period. Tom Wilson (7) had the lone assist.
The pass AND the finish 🤌 pic.twitter.com/yVFpWT4nIv
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 26, 2021
The Capitals would hang on for the 7-5 victory.
SHAVINGS
- T.J. Oshie scored his third goal of the game, completing his fifth career hat trick.
- Connor McMichael earned an assist on Oshie’s second goal, marking his first career NHL point.
- Connor McMichael recorded the primary assist on the Capitals’ sixth goal, his second assist of the game.
- Alex Ovechkin scored his sixth goal of the season to put the Capitals ahead 5-4. It marks Ovechkin’s 736th career goal, six goals shy of passing Brett Hull (741g) for the fourth-most goals in NHL history.
- Alex Ovechkin’s second period goal was his first career goal scored on goaltender Filip Gustavsson, the 149th different goaltender Ovechkin has scored on in his career. There have been 6,581 skaters in NHL history who have scored 149 or fewer goals in their career.
- Alex Ovechkin scores his second goal of the game to extend the Capitals’ lead to 7-5. It marks Ovechkin’s 737th career goal, leaving him five goals shy of passing Brett Hull (741g) for the fourth-most goals in NHL history.
- With first period goals from Nick Jensen and John Carlson, Capitals defensemen have now scored six of the team’s 23 goals this season (26.1 percent).
- The Capitals’ four goals in the first period are the most they have scored in a single period this season.
- Martin Fehervary recorded an assist on the Capitals’ fourth goal, marking his first assist of the season and the second of his career.
- John Carlson scored his first goal of the season to extend the Capitals’ lead to 4-1. Carlson’s 260 points (54g, 206a) since the start of the 2017-18 season rank first among NHL defensemen.
- Nick Jensen scored to extend the Capitals’ lead to 3-1. It marks Jensen’s second goal of the season in six games games played, matching his goal total from the 2020-21 season.