Caps Chase Cats, 6-3; Alex Ovechkin Scores Career Goal 878

Caps Chase Cats, 6-3; Alex Ovechkin Scores Career Goal 878

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Photo: @Capitals

The Washington Capitals downed the Florida Panthers, 6-3, Tuesday night at Capital One Arena in the District. Logan Thompson stopped 30 of 33 shots faced to improve to 24-2-4 on the season. The victory improves the Capitals’ record to 35-11-7 (77 points) on the season.

Following a very slow start to the tilt, the Capitals finally initiated the scoring late in the first frame with a tally from Andrew Mangiapane, but the Panthers answered with less than a minute remaining in the period with a marker from Sam Bennett for a 1-1 score at the first intermission.

The Capitals regained the lead early in the middle frame on a short-handed tally from Tom Wilson, but once again the Panthers answered less than three minutes later to tie the score, 2-2 with a tally from Aleksander Barkov. The score remained at the second break.

The Capitals regained the lead early in the final frame with a breakaway tally by Lars Eller and added a 6-on-5 goal from Nic Dowd to quickly make it 4-2. Matthew Tkachuck closed the gap to 4-3 near the midway point of the period, but that would be it. Aliaksei Protas and Alex Ovechkin added an empty net tallies for the 6-3 win.

LINEUP

Logan Thompson (23-2-4, 2.15 GAA, .924 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Capitals. Sergei Bobrovsky (22-11-2, 2.67 GAA, .902 sv%) got the start in goal for the visiting Panthers. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Tom Wilson
Aliaksei Protas —Pierre-Luc Dubois — Connor McMichael
Taylor Raddysh – Lars Eller — Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Andrew Mangiapane

Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: Jakub Vrana, Dylan McIlrath, Alexander Alexeyev.

Injured: Sonny Milano (upper-body), Nicklas Backstrom (hip), T.J. Oshie (back).

1ST PERIOD

Following a listless opening half to the first stanza, the Capitals initiated the scoring with a tally from Andrew Mangiapane (11) at 14:08. Rasmus Sandin (15) and Nic Dowd (9) had the helpers.

The Panthers answered with less than a minute remaining in the first on Sam Bennett’s 17th tally of the season. The goal was setup by a poor pass by Rasmus Sandin which led to a turnover in front of the Capitals net. J. Boqvist (9) had the lone assist.

The period concluded with the game knotted-up at 1-1. The Panthers dominated in five-on-five shot attempts, 21-10, and expected goals for, 1.16 to 0.29.

2ND PERIOD

The Capitals regained the lead on a short-handed tally from Tom Wilson (22) which was setup by a beautiful backhanded feed from Aliaksei Protas (23) at 1:15.

But the Panthers answered less than three minutes later to tie the score, 2-2. Aleksander Barkov (13) notched the tying tally. C. Verhaeghe (27) and S. Reinhart (29) had the assists.

And that was it for the middle frame. The Capitals led in five-on-five shot attempts, 16-12, and expected goals for, 0.49 to 0.39.

3RD PERIOD

The Capitals regained the lead early in the final frame with a breakaway tally by Lars Eller (9) at 2:19. The goal was unassisted.

The quickly Capitals added a 6-on-5 goal from Nic Dowd (11) to make it 4-2 at 6:10. Andrew Mangiapane (8) and Dylan Strome (36) had the assists.

But the Cats once again answered. Matthew Tkachuck closed the gap to 4-3 near the midway point of the period. N. Schmidt (8) and S. Bennett (16) had the assists.

Aliaksei Protas and Alex Ovechkin added an empty net tallies for the 6-3 win. Ovechkin (878g in 1,463 GP) is 17 goals shy of passing Wayne Gretzky (894g in 1,487 GP) for the most goals in NHL history.

Ovechkin has recorded 90 points (45g, 45a) in 73 career games against Florida and ranks first all-time in career goals, assists and points against the Panthers.

SHAVINGS (Via Capitals PR)

  • Andrew Mangiapane scored his 11th goal of the season to give put the Capitals ahead 1-0. Mangiapane has recorded 52 points (33g, 19a) in 78 career games during the month of February, his highest output in any calendar month (next closest: November & March: 35p).
  • Rasmus Sandin recorded the primary assist on Mangiapane’s game-opening goal, his 15th assist of the season. Ten of Sandin’s 15 assists this season have been primaries, which ranks third among Capitals defensemen.
  • Nic Dowd was credited with the secondary assist on Mangiapane’s goal, his ninth assist of the season. Eighteen of Dowd’s 19 points this season have come at even strength.
  • Tom Wilson scored his first shorthanded goal of the season and the 10th of his career to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead. Wilson’s 10 career shorthanded goals are tied with Brooks Laich for the seventh most in franchise history.
  • Aliaksei Protas recorded the primary assist on Wilson’s shorthanded goal, marking his eighth point (3g, 5a) in his last eight games. Protas is now three points shy of 100 career points.
  • Lars Eller scored his ninth goal of the season to put the Capitals ahead 3-2. Eller has scored three goals in two games against Florida this season. It marks Eller’s fifth career goal scored on Sergei Bobrovsky (regular season and playoffs).
  • Nic Dowd scored his 11th goal of the season to extend Washington’s lead to 4-2. Dowd, who has scored 11 goals in 53 games this season, is two goals shy of matching his single-season career high (2022-23: 13g in 65 GP).
  • Andrew Mangiapane recorded the primary assist on Washington’s fourth goal, his second point of the night (1g, 1a). It marks Mangiapane’s fourth multi-point performance of the season.
  • Dylan Strome tallied his team-leading 36th assist of the season on Dowd’s goal, extending his point streak to four games (3g-2a–5p). It marks Strome’s sixth point streak of four or more games this season.
  • Alex Ovechkin scores his 25th goal of the season and 878th of his career to make it 6-3. Ovechkin has scored a goal in three-straight games. With his goal tonight, Ovechkin is now two points shy of passing Phil Esposito (1,590) for the 11th-most points in NHL history.
  • Alex Ovechkin has recorded his 19th career 25-goal season, the second most in NHL history behind only Gordie Howe (20).
  • Per @PR_NHL, Alex Ovechkin skated in his 807th career win tonight, which passed Gordie Howe (806) for the fifth most among all forwards in NHL history. The only forwards to skate in more are Patrick Marleau (935 GP), Joe Thornton (914), Jaromir Jagr (874) and Mark Messier (864).
  • With the win, Thompson extends his point streak to 14 games (12-0-2). Thompson’s 14-game point streak is tied for the second longest by a goaltender in franchise history (Jose Theodore: 19 GP in 2009-10; Braden Holtby: 14 GP in 2016-17).
  • The Capitals extend their home point streak to 14 games (10-0-4), which is the third-longest home point streak in franchise history (2016-17: 17 GP, 16-0-1; 2009-10: 15 GP, 14-0-1).

By Jon Sorensen

About Jon Sorensen

Jon has been a Caps fan since day one, attending his first game at the Capital Centre in 1974. His interest in the Caps has grown over the decades and included time as a season ticket holder. He has been a journalist covering the team for 10+ years, primarily focusing on analysis, analytics and prospect development.

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