Alexander Ovechkin’s Hat Trick Powers Caps Past Wild

As the saying goes, “Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.” Capitals’ left winger Alexander Ovechkin is one of the best players in the National Hockey League and entered Thursday night’s game against the Minnesota Wild with 506 career goals and 31 goals for the year.

Ovechkin was more than a little fortunate in the Caps’ 4-3 win over the Wild as he notched his 14th career hat-trick with three goals in the second period, giving him the league lead with 34 goals.

Ovechkin’s first goal came just over 2 minutes into the second period, when a shot from T.J. Oshie was deflected by Wild forward Zach Parise, the puck went straight to Ovechkin, who was in the left faceoff circle of the offensive zone, and he put the puck past Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk.

The Capitals’ captain’s second goal came when defenseman John Carlson sent a one-time shot off the boards.  The puck deflected right to Ovechkin and he went top shelf beat Dubnyk for the second time.

For his third goal of the period, Ovechkin shot the puck off the rebound and it deflected off of the post before hitting Dubnyk’s back and finally crossing the line to complete the hat-trick.

“It’s a good feeling,” Ovechkin said. “Obviously, when you get one, when you get the second one, it’s pretty cool. But when you have three goals in one game, it’s kind of special.”

The win was Washington’s 40th of the year (40-9-4) and they have a league best 84 points, their next game will be Saturday, Feb. 13 in Dallas against the Stars (35-15-5).  The Wild (23-21-10) lost their 7th straight game and have yet to win at home during the 2016 calendar year.  They will get another shot to earn that first home win of 2016 on the 13th, when they host the Boston Bruins (29-19-6).

Article by Nick Vigliotti