The Washington Capitals wanted lots of goals and a decisive win against the New York Rangers on Wednesday night. Instead they got a muddled affair, with fights and blood and turnovers and soft calls and no-calls – and, of course, Alex Ovechkin.
Pierre-Luc Dubois scored one minute into the first period, thanks to Tom Wilson stealing the puck after a faceoff. Artemi Panarin tied it by deflecting an outside shot from Zack Jones. The Caps had to kill a four-minute penalty and escaped the period with a tie.
The second period got scrappy, with the Rangers getting the better part of it. Sam Carrick committed interference (no call) along the blue line and then got a great pass from K’Andre Miller to nab the lead.
In the third, Alex Ovechkin scored the 885th goal of his career, bringing us back to even and him closer to Wayne Gretzky. Into overtime we went, where Tom Wilson perpetrated a horrifying act of victory.
Caps win 3-2 in overtime!
- The Capitals committed — by my count – their 12th too many men penalty of the season. That is too many too many men. If I were Spencer Carbery, I’d be irate over the all these copious comrades calls. But on the other hand, doesn’t he have ultimate responsibility for the volume of unwanted uncs penalties? If anyone can make systemic changes to reduce getting busted for heaping himbos, it’s the head coach. In the meantime, we’re going to see more and more of these overabundant athlete situations, and bonus bloke scenarios, and surplus studs deals, and leftover lad crises.
- Ethen Frank got busted for a high-stick penalty in the first period, which was fair. But it being a double-minor for supposedly drawing blood from Brett Berard seemed thin. I’m not accusing – a la Ray Bourque in a wild accusation from 1989 I just learned about tonight – Berard of chomping a blood capsule in his mouth, but I didn’t see a justification for the double minor. The Caps penalty killers were terrific, holding the Rangers to just one shot in those four minutes.
- Okay, yet another bullet about penalties? I hate being this whiny. Sam Carrick got away with blatant interference to allow the Rangers into the offensive zone before becoming himself the beneficiary of his crime. That should not have been a goal.
- Okay, enough about penalties. Now let’s talk about fights. Hockey is mostly incidental to this game and this game recap. Brendon Duhaime fought Sam Carrick, more of a hug-of-brinksmanship than a fight in my opinion. (Also, I don’t know if me and the TNT team have the same definition of “rabbit punch.”) Then Matt Roy fought Jusso Parssinen, the seeming result of a Brennan Othmann getting dumped into the boards, which at first I thought was egregious, but it didn’t seem so bad at all on replay.
- This whole time Matt Rempe and Tom Wilson were exchanging furtive glances, obscuring their faces with fans, giggling like coquettes. No consummation. Wilson got his elsewhere.
- Alexis Lafreniere had an edgy shift in the first period, leveling iffy hits on Rasmus Sandin and Nic Dowd. If he faced retaliation, I must have missed it while coming up with synonyms for too many men.
Alex Ovechkin scores 885th career goal on Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin, 10 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s goals record
- Hockey, finally. Let’s talk hockey. Alex Ovechkin is ten away from becoming – officially – the greatest goal-scorer in history. I like that it wasn’t a typical Ovi goal. He pounced on a loose puck last touched by Andrew Mangiapane (who needed the point – his first since February 22) to beat Igor Shesterkin for the fifth time. Meanwhile, Ovi’s next point will be his 1600th, which is a number ending with two zeroes, and therefore Ian will begrudgingly write about it.
- TNT stinks. “One-trick pony.” Lazy. Captain and leader of the most successful team of this era. If they get the Milestone Goals, that’ll be a shame. It’ll be on mute in this home.
— Peter Hassett (@peterhassett) March 6, 2025
A strange night. Aside from the PK, the Caps didn’t really distinguish themselves until the third period, perhaps inspired by Alex Ovechkin’s goal. Speaking of: I think it’s time for Alex Semin to buy some plane tickets. Maybe DC pollen and summer swamp heat will help Evgeny Kuznetsov in his recovery. Sergei Federov probably isn’t doing anything.
On Friday night the Caps host the Detroit Red Wings, who have the worst penalty kill in the league. Don’t jinx it. But you know. Oh yes, you know. Shut up though.