Wilson, it turns out, was actually trying to pass to linemate Jakub Vrana.
"I'm not going to lie to you; I was trying to pass it to V, going to the net for a quick play there," says Wilson. "But Bows did a great job. He was in position and had lots of time coming down the middle. He made the most of it."
"I think I was waiting to find an opening," recounts Bowey, "and once I thought I'd just pull back and shoot it. I'm happy it went in, obviously. It's a long time, but it definitely felt great and it turned out to be a big goal for us. I'm just happy about the two points in the end."
Bowey's goal came in his 78th career NHL game, and it stands as the game-winner.
But despite playing for the second time in as many nights and playing without No. 1 netminder Craig Anderson and top defenseman Thomas Chabot, the Sens weren't going away.
Colin White scored the Sens first goal against Washington this season, stuffing the puck behind Copley from the right post, ending a shutout streak of 122:01 for the Washington goaltender. The Caps issued a video challenge, alleging goaltender interference, but the call on the ice was upheld and White's goal made it a 3-1 game at 4:22 of the second period.
Seconds after the White goal, Bowey got into a tussle with Tkachuk, giving himself, Lewington and Wilson two of the three legs of the Gordie Howe hat trick. With an assist on White's goal, Tkachuk was also two-thirds of the way to a Gordie Howe hat trick at that point.
Copley made a key stop on Mark Stone just past the midpoint of the second period after some puck mismanagement on the part of his teammates. Shortly thereafter, Copley made another strong stop on White to preserve Washington's two-goal cushion.
When Lewington dropped the mitts with Ottawa's Zack Smith at 15:36 of the second, he became the first Caps defenseman to record a regular season Gordie Howe hat trick since Kevin Hatcher turned the trick against the Philadelphia Flyers on Feb. 10, 1991.
You can bet that Lewington has spent some time thinking about what his first goal, assist and fight in the NHL would be like, but did he ever think they'd all happen on the same night?
"No," says Lewington. "I think I was just looking forward to that first NHL game. I'm not really thinking about scoring goals or any of that stuff."