Vanecek 'Not Yet' On List of Goalies Ovechkin Has Scored On | FEATURE

Last month when the Washington Capitals came to New Jersey, Vitek Vanecek played his former team for the first time. The nerves were there as they tend to be playing against a former team for the first time, but Vanecek also had the unenviable position of going up against former teammate and goal-scoring machine Alexander Ovechkin for the first time.
"I was a little bit nervous before the game. ... It was something special to play against the Caps for the first time, honestly," Vanecek said after the Nov. 26 game. "I know they're a really good team, but I tried everything I can to help the team to win the game."
And he means everything, like stopping all but one of Washington's 38 shots.
Eight of those came off Ovechkin's stick.
"'Ovi' is a really good player, and I know he wanted to score on me, so I was really focused to try to stop everything," Vanecek said after the game.
On Friday, Vanecek went back in his memory bank, recalling that game and the determination in which Ovechkin looked like he had to score on his former teammate.
"You know, I saw him. Eight shots. Eight shots over the game" Vanecek exclaimed. "It was crazy. I was so happy I stopped them."
Vanecek remembers his first time on the ice with Ovechkin in a practice with Washington. It was his first year and as the goaltender tends to be, he was the first goaltender on the ice.
And out came Ovechkin. He had work to do.

"He's always fun, but he's there and he says Vitek, go to the net, I need to practice my shots. I need to practice my shots on goalies, it doesn't make sense to shoot on the empty net," Vanecek said with a snicker. "So I said, okay."
No pressure, right? Well, it wasn't long before they had an audience and of course, it had to be a fellow goalie in Braden Holtby, the Capitals starting netminder at the time.
At this point in the conversation on Friday, Vanecek cannot help but laugh at the memory.
"Holtby was standing on the blueline, and he says 'Hey Vitek, good luck.'and then he just stands on the blueline and watched. I know he was thinking what was I doing."
He added that he understood, shooters like Ovechkin need goaltenders sometimes, 'so he knows where to shoot', Vanecek joked.
"The pucks just kept coming at me," he laughed recalling the practice.

All that practice has made Ovechkin one of the greatest scorers ever in the game. He's on the verge of tying Gordie Howe for second on the all-time list. Howe scored 801 goals, and Ovechkin's most recent goal, an empty-netter against the Chicago Blackhawks not only completed a hat-trick but was the 800th of his career. Only Howe and Wayne Gretzky (894) have more.
"I mean, it's great. It's great, you know 800 goals, I mean, I will only hit 100 games my next game," Vanecek said letting out one of his heartwarming laughs.
After one game against Ovechkin, Vanecek survived a game against Ovechkin's incredible goal-scoring prowess. His name is not included in the list of 165 goaltenders Ovechkin has scored at least one of his 800 career goals on.
One game against, eight shots against, Vanecek can at least hang his hat on not joining the list of 165 goaltenders.
But he's also no fool. When it's mentioned he's not on that list of 165 goaltenders, there was zero hesitation:
"Not yet."