Winnipeg Jets Top Washington Capitals, 3-2 (OT); Alex Ovechkin Five Goals Away From Tying NHL Record trucc

The Washington Capitals fell to the Winnipeg Jets by a score of 3-2 in overtime at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday in the battle of the NHL’s conference leaders. Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin scored his 889th career goal and is now five shy of tying Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record. The loss dropped Washington to 47-15-9 (.725 points percentage) this season. Goaltender Logan Thompson made 22 saves in the loss.

Washington’s Lines

Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Tom Wilson
Connor McMichael — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Aliaksei Protas
Andrew Mangiapane – Lars Eller — Taylor Raddysh
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Anthony Beauvillier

Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Thompson
Charlie Lindgren

• Scratched
  • D Dylan McIlrath
  • D Alexander Alexeyev
  • RW Ethen Frank
• Injured
  • LW Sonny Milano (upper-body)
  • C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
  • RW T.J. Oshie (back)

Winnipeg’s Lines

Kyle Connor — Mark Scheifele — Alex Iafallo
Nino Niederreiter — Vladislav Namestnikov — Cole Perfetti
Nikolaj Ehlers – Adam Lowry — Mason Appleton
Brandon Tanev — Rasmus Kupari — Morgan Barron

Josh Morrissey — Dylan DeMelo
Dylan Samberg — Luke Schenn
Logan Stanley — Colin Miller

Connor Hellebuyck
Eric Comrie

• Scratched
  • D Ville Heinola
  • D Hadyn Fleury
  • C David Gustafsson
• Injured
  • D Neal Pionk (lower-body)
  • C Gabriel Vilardi (back)

First Period

Scoring

• 6:50, 1-0 Winnipeg: Morrissey clapped a slapshot that went past the glove of Thompson from the left point after Schiefele threw the puck back to Morrissey from the left half-wall.

• 19:21, 1-1: Mangiapane ripped a wrist shot over the blocker of Hellebuyck from the right circle after entering the zone and executing a give-and-go with Chychrun. Mangiapane extended his goal streak to three games (three goals). Mangiapane has scored seven goals in 20 career games against Hellebuyck.

Stats

• 8-6 Winnipeg in shots
• 6-4 Winnipeg in hits
• 10-4 Winnipeg in blocked shots
• 3-3 in giveaways
• 2-0 Washington in takeaways

Graph: Natural StatTrick

Second Period

Scoring

• 19:48, 2-1 Winnipeg: Appleton ripped a wrist shot to the top left corner over the glove of Thompson from the right dot after getting a cross-ice pass by Niederreiter, who was at the left half-wall.

Stats

• 18-15 Washington in shots
  • including 12-7 in the second
• .571 Washington on faceoffs
• Washington did not score on their first two power plays
  • Winnipeg was held off of the board on their first opportunity
• 10-10 in hits
• 12-5 Winnipeg in blocked shots
• 7-6 Washington in giveaways

Third Period

Scoring

• 16:00, 2-2: Ovechkin wristed one over the blocker of Hellebuyck from the right dot after Protas pressured Schiefele along the boards, retrieved the puck, and sent it across. Ovechkin has scored 10 goals in his last 10 games against Winnipeg. Ovechkin has scored 19 of his 36 goals this season in the third period. The 39-year-old’s 57 career goals versus the Jets/Atlanta Thrashers are the most by an active player against one franchise (passing Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby: 56 vs. Philadelphia Flyers). Protas extended his point streak to five games (1-5-6) and his assist streak to four games. Van Riemsdyk has recorded four points (three assists) in his last five games and became the sixth Capitals defenseman to reach the 20-point mark this season. It marks the first time in franchise history Washington has had six defensemen with 20 or more points in the same season.

Stats

• 29-24 Washington in shots
  • 11-9 in third
• .56 Washington on faceoffs
• Washington failed to score on two power plays
• 17-15 in hits
• 19-12 Winnipeg in blocked shots
• 13-11 Washington in giveaways
• 7-3 Washington in takeaways

Overtime

Scoring: 1:28, 3-2 Winnipeg: Ehlers flew down the right wing and wristed a shot over the blocker of Thompson after getting a stretch pass off of the boards by Samberg.

Shots: 29-25 Washington, but 1-0 Winnipeg in overtime

Washington’s lead over the Carolina Hurricanes for first in the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference extended to 13 points with both teams down to 11 games left in the regular season. The team needs any combination of 10 points gained by them and lost by Carolina to clinch the top seed in the division and conference.