*Photo from The Rink Live*
The climb for Alex Ovechkin is continuing quickly. Conor Sheary had a two assist game, Ovechkin hit another milestone, and the Washington Capitals defeated the Winnipeg Jets with a 4-1 victory on Friday night in Washington.
Entering the game with 800 career goals, Ovechkin scored goals 801 and 802 of his career, tying and then passing Gordie Howe for second all time in NHL history for goals scored. He helped the Capitals run their win streak to 4 games, and his next target is Wayne Gretzky's 894 career goals, leading the league.
Washington head coach Peter Laviolette said of Ovechkin that "I don't want to say once in a lifetime, but moments like that in hockey rarely come up, and you pause the game to honor somebody for such a special achievement. What he has been able to accomplish here in Washington is truly unbelievable."
The first goal of the game came from Ovechkin, knocking in goal number 801 to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead, assisted by Sheary and Dylan Strome. At the 12:46 mark of period number two, Sonny Milano scored his 5th goal of the season, doubling the Capitals lead to 2-0 with Sheary and Ovechkin assisting on the goal.
Starting the scoring in the 3rd period was Nic Dowd, who made the Capitals lead 3-0 with his 8th goal of the season. Kevin Stenlund got the Jets on the board with his second goal of the season to cut the deficit to 3-1. With the net empty late, Ovechkin scored the tiebreaking goal to pass Howe and give the Capitals a 4-1 win.
Ovechkin said after the game that he is "Very emotional. My parents watched it from home. My wife is here, kids here, friends. Doing it with the home crowd, it's special. They give me full support, and this is pretty big. It's a historic moment. It's nice to be in this category of players. It's pretty cool."
Getting the start in goal for the Capitals was Charlie Lindgren, who kept up his solid run lately. Lindgren made 25 saves on the 26 shots he faced, which was good for a .962 save percentage as his record bumped up to 10-4-2 on the season.
The Jets started backup goalie David Rittich on the second half of a back to back, with Rittich getting the loss to fall to 5-4-0 this season. Rittich stopped 23 out of the 26 shots the Capitals had, recording a .885 save percentage.
Winnipeg head coach Rick Bowness said that there was a "Slow start. Took some penalties in the second period, but when we got going, we had some good looks. "Kid in the net made a lot of big saves for them at the right time, so that's tough when you give up that first goal. But listen, there's no quit in these guys. They found a way to dig down deep in the third period."
Both teams resume play on December 27 following the brief Christmas break. The Capitals take on the New York Rangers, with Lindgren lined up to start. Connor Hellebuyck is the expected starter for the Jets as they take on the Minnesota Wild.
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