Alex Ovechkin scored his 880th, 881st and 882nd profession objectives to report a hat trick and transfer 13 objectives away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record and provides the Washington Capitals a 7-3 victory over Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday, shifting again atop the league standings.
“All people’s simply acquired to be a little bit bit higher,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch mentioned after the loss. “Whether or not that’s on our backchecks, our breakouts, our passing, our penalty kill — every little thing may very well be a little bit bit higher.”
Ovechkin beat Calvin Pickard clear with a wrist shot simply earlier than the halfway mark of the second interval off a cross from linemate Dylan Strome for his first of the sport. He acquired his second on the ability play 10 minutes later and put the puck into an empty web with 2:38 left for his third.
Get breaking Nationwide information
For information impacting Canada and around the globe, join breaking information alerts delivered on to you after they occur.
Pickard turned the 181st goaltender he has scored on, already essentially the most of any participant after Ovechkin broke Jaromir Jagr’s mark earlier final month. Together with his 134th game-winning purpose, he additionally tied Jagr for essentially the most in NHL historical past.
Tom Wilson, Jakob Chychrun, Connor McMichael and Strome additionally scored and Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves for the Capitals, who gained back-to-back matinees out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break. They outscored the Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins 15-6.
The Oilers misplaced their third in a row relationship to earlier than the break, regardless of Leon Draisaitl scoring his league-leading forty second purpose this season. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jeff Skinner scored within the third, lengthy after the sport acquired out of hand, and Pickard allowed six objectives on 32 photographs.
“Typically this occurs after breaks,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid mentioned. “Some groups come out flying, some groups come out flat — we’ve clearly carried out the latter.”
Takeaways
Oilers: The street journey is off to a tough begin, and the schedule doesn’t get any simpler from right here.
Capitals: It’s time to say they’re a authentic Stanley Cup contender.
Key second
Ovechkin one-timed a cross from Chychrun previous Pickard late within the second to open the floodgates.
Key stat
Strome has assisted on 16 of Ovechkin’s 29 objectives this season.
Up subsequent
The Oilers go to Tampa Bay on Tuesday, the identical night time the Capitals host Calgary.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Source link