Inside Capital One Arena, the Washington faithful took in a piece of history as Alex Ovechkin suited up for his 1,500th outing in the league. They very nearly also got their first netminder brawl at home in what seems like ages.
Deep in the middle stanza facing Ottawa, Charlie Lindgren — already steaming — completely lost it once he got run over by Ottawa's Ridly Greig.
A hard hit from Martin Fehervary put Greig down, but it wasn't enough to calm a furious Outlaw, who charged from the blue paint spoiling for battle.
With a melee flaring up behind the goal, Lindgren started throwing his blocker at the Ottawa center and going after David Perron too. As the dust-up migrated toward the boards at the end, Linus Ullmark, the visitors' goaltender, had seen plenty and raced the entire sheet to jump in.
Notice the cheeky manner in which he tossed aside his stick while heading over.
Much to everyone's letdown, the two keepers couldn't really break free to trade blows, the zebras separating Ullmark from the cluster and quashing any scrap.
📸: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
📸: Photo by Alan Dobbins for RMNB
A screaming Lindgren plainly wanted in, having coughed up four pucks over two frames and staring down an early trip to the showers.
Trevor van Riemsdyk spoke about his goalie once the game ended, calling Lindgren a competitor with a will to win. The contest wasn't unfolding how they'd hoped, van Riemsdyk noted, and seeing him charge in like that gave the bench a jolt of energy.
Astonishingly, the refs dished out a combined total of just 10 minutes in penalties. Both Ullmark and Lindgren picked up two-minute minors apiece for abandoning the blue paint. A double-minor roughing call landed on Fehervary for going after Ridley Greig, who himself was tagged with a single roughing infraction. The Senators thus earned a two-minute man advantage, and Drake Batherson buried it 55 ticks into the final period to stretch the lead to 5-0.
Lindgren's night had gone bad at the 3:27 mark of the middle frame, as Shane Pinto barreled into Washington's backup and got credited with a goal once Jakob Chychrun shoved him into the cage.
A furious Lindgren watched the Caps spend their timeout before ultimately contesting the play, citing goaltender interference, though the marker held up upon review.
Off the resulting Ottawa man advantage stemming from that failed challenge, it was Dylan Cozens lighting the lamp to make it 3-0. Soon after, Nick Cousins notched his first tally of the year, lifting the Sens ahead 4-0.