Ovechkin Scores 50th in Caps OT Loss

Alex Ovechkin made history on Wednesday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, scoring a pair of goals to reach the 50-goal mark for the ninth time in his illustrious NHL career. Ovechkin's first goal came early in the second and it gave the Caps a 2-1 lead, and his second tally tied the game at 3-3 in the third. But Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore scored at 2:09 of overtime to give Vegas a 4-3 win, keeping their playoff hopes alive.

With the two-goal night, Ovechkin ties the late Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky with nine 50-goal seasons each, the most in NHL history. The Caps' captain now has 780 goals for his career, just 21 behind Gordie Howe (801) for second place on the NHL's all-time goal-scoring ledger.
"Obviously it's pretty good company," says Ovechkin. "I'm pretty happy. When you score the first one, you feel pretty good about the game. I think our line today feels good, we have pretty good chances. It's one of the nights you're feeling it."
"I thought he played really hard out here tonight, and really hard in Colorado [on Monday]," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "And he really set the example for our team. Amazing accomplishment, 50 goals again. I think as a more veteran player, being able to accomplish that where he is in his career right now as well, is pretty special."
Wednesday's loss halted the Caps' two-game winning run, but they've picked up points in seven of their last eight games (6-1-1).
Early in the contest, the Caps needed some key stops from goaltender Ilya Samsonov, and they got them. He denied Max Pacioretty on a 2-on-1 in the game's first half minute and thwarted Keegan Kolesar from the slot after a Washington turnover, just after the two-minute mark of the first.
The Caps got on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead on Evgeny Kuznetsov's 24th goal of the season at 6:18 of the opening frame. Washington worked a high cycle in the Vegas zone, and Nick Jensen left the puck for Ovechkin a few feet above the left circle. Ovechkin cranked a one-timer from there, and the puck trickled through the pads of Vegas goalie Robin Lehner and wobbled behind him in the blue paint. Fortunately for the Caps, Kuznetsov was right there to whack it in and put them on top.
In the back half of the first period, Vegas got even. After an exchange between the two Vegas defensemen just inside the Washington line, Alex Martinez let a shot fly through traffic, and it found its way past Samsonov to knot the score at 13:51.
Just over a minute later, the Caps appeared to have retaken the lead on a beauty of a John Carlson goal that came off a fine tic-tac-toe passing sequence. But it was all for naught when the Golden Knights issued a successful coach's challenge, alleging that Washington was offside on the play. Video review showed that Tom Wilson was in just ahead of the play, and the score stayed at 1-1 going into the middle period.
Lehner stopped 12 of 13 Caps shots in the first, but Vegas coach Pete DeBoer hooked him to start the second, replacing him with Logan Thompson, the right-handed catching former Caps farmhand.
Soon after the Caps successfully snuffed out a Vegas power play early in the second, they restored their one-goal lead. Kuznetsov, who was on the ice for the completion of the kill, made a perfect feed to set up Ovechkin on a 2-on-1 rush. From the inside of the left circle, the Caps' captain swept it into the net for his 49th goal of the season, making Thompson the 160th different netminding victim of his illustrious NHL career.
Washington wasn't able to do anything with just under a minute's worth of carryover power play time to start the third, and about a minute later, the Golden Knights pulled even.
After the Caps turned the puck over in the neutral zone, Vegas' Evgenii Dadonov carried right back into Washington ice and fired a shot from the right circle, Samsonov caught a piece of it, but it bounded off his upper body and in on the short side to tie the game at 2-2 at 2:05 of the third.
Seconds later, the Golden Knights went back on the power play and took their first lead of the night. From the right half wall, Max Pacioretty put a feed to the middle for Chandler Stephenson in the slot. The former Caps forward redirected it through Samsonov, who had lost his stick; it was lying right at his feet. The Golden Knights' second goal in 49 seconds gave Vegas a 3-2 lead at 2:54 of the third.
"Well, they scored to tie it up, and then we ended up taking a penalty at the blueline," says Laviolette. "And then the goalie was caught without his stick - [it was] between his legs - and they scored another one quick.
"It was just a bad two minutes. I don't think it was that we didn't come out and play, it didn't go our way in the first two minutes."
Vegas put a lot of pressure on Washington in the next few minutes, until Ovechkin got loose on a breakaway just ahead of the midpoint of the period. The puck rolled off his blade before he could pull the trigger.
"I kind of effed myself, thinking too much," rues Ovechkin of the brekaway. "It's not my game."
Samsonov halted Stephenson on a breakaway soon after, and the Caps eventually pulled even on Ovechkin's 50th. Conor Sheary made a good defensive play high in Washington ice to end a Vegas offensive zone shift, and Orlov quickly hit Ovechkin with a blueline-to-blueline stretch pass. Ovechkin didn't keep it on his blade for long, gaining the zone and winding up for a clapper that eluded Thompson at 13:36 of the third.
In overtime, it took more than two minutes for either team to put a shot on net, and Theodore ended the game on the only shot of the extra session. He took a feed from Dadonov, cut to the middle and put a backhander under the bar to keep the Caps winless in the regular season at T-Mobile Arena.
With Wednesday's win, the Knights pulled to within two points of Dallas for the second wild playoff berth in the Western Conference. The Stars fell to Edmonton on Wednesday, and they hold a game in hand on Vegas.