John McCreary/NHLI via Getty Images
As if the Washington Capitals’ 3-2 come-from-behind overtime victory against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena wasn’t already a morale boost to the locker room, the game-winning goal by captain Alex Ovechkin carried with it yet more significance as the curtain was closed on the Broad Street Bullies.
Ovechkin scored his 10th goal of the season to secure the sudden-death victory for Washington, a much-needed tally for both player (who had scored just once in six games entering the night) and club, who had dropped nine of their past 11 contests.
7️⃣9️⃣0️⃣ for The Great 8!
Alex Ovechkin nets the @SUBWAYCanada OT winner for the Capitals. pic.twitter.com/DHz65W87YB
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 24, 2022
While the goal put Ovechkin 10 goals shy of the eight century mark in his career, by allowing the lamp to be lit behind him, Philly netminder Felix Sandstrom became the 164th different goalie to give up a goal to The Great Eight, a number that ranks the Caps’ captain tied for third-most in league history along with Mark Messier, and behind former Capital Jaromir Jagr, and Patrick Marleau.
Ovechkin’s 164 goaltenders scored on is tied with Mark Messier for the third most in NHL history and trails only Jaromir Jagr (178) and Patrick Marleau (177).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) November 24, 2022
Additionally, Ovechkin notched his first career (regular and postseason) overtime tally against Philadelphia, the 14th club upon which he has dropped the overtime hammer on his 17 seasons; he trails only Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand (16) and Jagr (15) in that regard.
DYK? Alex Ovechkin has never scored an overtime goal against the Flyers (regular season or playoffs). . . until now. 🚨#NHLStats: https://t.co/JlYzpSW8wB pic.twitter.com/BrEkSw2v7m
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 24, 2022
I have two questions: 1. If you are a goaltender who is the last person on the planet you want to see wide open 15 feet in front of you?
2.Why in shootouts does Ovi always try to deke the goalie instead on just blasting away?
Very good question. The answer to #1 is easy. The answer to #2 is a great mystery.
“To answer question: must stop using TJ Oshie as shootout coach.
Regards,
Sasha”
I have long wondered about #2. The question to me morphed into how good is Ovi when shooting on the move? When I go back through his highlight goals, he is always stationary. He plants, gets the puck, and shoots. Can’t plant on a shootout. So do we have examples of goals while on the run?
Why can’t you plant on a shootout?
Rule 24 The puck must be kept in motion towards the opponent’s goal line and once it is shot, the play shall be considered complete.
Note that in Kuzy’s great shootout moves he constantly keeps the puck moving towards the net.
the better question is: why is #8 even taking shots in the shootout? instead we should be using someone like Milano who actually HAS moves that are shootout worthy.
The only player to score against this many goalies while on one team. That’s the impressive part.
Movie is the only player to score against this many goalies while remaining with one team. That is the most impressive part.
This to me is one of Ovi’s greatest records. It shows consistency over time. Players can get hot on a streak and then fall off the radar but still have high numbers because of that streak. Just to play against 164 goalies shows staying power. To have scored against 164 goalies shows a scoring consistency. He’s not a hidden sniper. He’s out in the open, visible to all the opposition. His technique and preferences have been studied. Yet still he takes them down.
I hope that at some point the NHL, ESPN, TNT, or NBCSW takes the time to interview retired goalies, goalies who can be free to speak their minds, and ask them about facing Ovi and do a proper (longer than a minute or two) piece on what it was like facing the Great Eight.
NHL and ESPN will eventually, probably after he retires. As for the other 2 all they are interested in is profit so a story will not be done by them. Besides neither tnt or NBCSW has the creative writers or journalists with the ability to do that story justice.
The head of NHL Content a year or two ago was talking about doing a piece like Michael Jordan’s ESPN doc, covering a long time span in his run up to Gretzky’s record, but I haven’t heard much since. That would be a great addition to the doc.