It was certainly not a typical Alex Ovechkin performance. In 64 minutes of action the Capitals’ star winger managed just two shots on goal, committed two penalties and served another. Credited with only two hits even his notorious physicality was missing on Monday night against the Ottawa Senators.
Yet with the game on the line who else would you expect to come through? Ovechkin scored from the right wing with just 32 seconds left in overtime to lift Washington to a 3-2 victory over Ottawa at Verizon Center.
“Only Alex can play like he did and score the overtime winner and be the hero,” said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. “Go ask him how he played. He’ll tell you: Not so good. But he got the overtime goal and that’s what superstars do. That’s why he’s out in the last minute, because he’s got the ability to win you a game at any chance.”
Ovechkin beat Senators goalie Pascal Leclaire, who had stopped 23 of the first 25 shots Washington put on net. But he was off-balance on the game-winner, unsure what exactly Ovechkin had planned. It wasn’t complicated.
“Again, shoot the puck and puck goes in,” Ovechkin said. “Pretty lucky.”
His goal made a winner of Caps rookie goalie Michal Neuvirth, who finished with 29 saves on 31 Ottawa shots, including several critical stops late in regulation to keep the game tied.
“I was kind of getting ready for a shootout,” Neuvirth said of his thoughts late in overtime. “But then [Ovechkin] scored and I was maybe the happiest guy in the building. That was a huge goal for us and a huge win. Ottawa worked really hard. That was a challenge.”
Alex Semin scored the game’s first goal at 18 minutes, 38 seconds of the first period – a mere 20 seconds after the Caps had finished 3:59 of power-play time without scoring. Brooks Laich won a puck battle in the corner against two Senators players, who both chased him down and inexplicably left Semin, their nemesis, alone in front of Leclaire. Semin roofed a shot over the sprawling goalie for his first goal of 2010-11. He scored five times against Ottawa last season.
The Senators tied the game at 9:57 of the second period. Forward Chris Neil chased a puck to the far boards with Caps defenseman John Erskine in pursuit. Neil dropped a pass for teammate Matt Carkner, whose blast was re-directed in front of the net by Jarkko Ruutu.
But just 81 seconds later, Washington forward Matt Hendricks found a slashing Eric Fehr in front. He slammed the puck home to put Washington back on top, 2-1. That was Fehr’s second goal in as many games.
Ottawa tied it again at 7:20 of the third period. Peter Regin jumped on a turnover by Nicklas Backstrom just outside the Senators’ offensive zone. He found winger Ryan Shannon, who gained space in front and fired a shot against the grain and into the top-left corner.
“A lot of guys are blocking shots,” Ovechkin said. “But still I think our game needs to improve in our defensive zone, especially because they control puck and we play possession game. It’s still just the beginning of the year, but we have to continue to do better.”
