WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin had a chance to pull off a double milestone by reaching 900 goals in his 1,500th game.
The Ottawa Senators were having none of it.
The Capitals and their fans had a chance to celebrate the latter accomplishment, but goal No. 900 will have to wait. Washington was drubbed 7-1 by the Senators on Saturday night.
Ovechkin came close early in the game when he flipped a backhand off the side of the net.
“He had me in the first period. I’m just lucky that he missed the net,” Senators goalie Linus Ullmark said. “He fooled me. I was up in the stands looking for a hot dog or something like that after that one. I was lucky on that one.”
After breaking Wayne Gretzky’s career record with his 895th goal in April, Ovechkin entered this season needing three more to reach 900. A goal against Columbus on Friday night brought him to 899, but he had only one shot Saturday.
As a team, the Capitals were outshot 34-13.
“We just could never really get into it. Give them credit. They worked hard,” Washington’s Tom Wilson said. “We just didn’t have the legs to tilt the ice at any point throughout the game, and it ends up pretty lopsided, and not good enough.”
During a stoppage in the first, Ovechkin received a standing ovation from the crowd when the 1,500-game milestone was acknowledged on the scoreboard.
That break included video of congratulations from Ray Bourque, Steve Yzerman, Patrick Marleau, Nicklas Lidstrom and Shane Doan. Those are five of the seven other players to have reached 1,500 games with one franchise. (The other two, Gordie Howe and Alex Delvecchio, are no longer alive.)
“It’s incredible. There’s very few guys in this league that get to play 500 games. Even less, 1,000 games,” Ullmark said. “Now you have him playing 1,500 games for the same franchise, which is absolutely incredible. There’s only a few select guys that have ever done it.”
Although Ullmark wasn’t all that busy in his own end, he did skate all the way down the ice when his counterpart, Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren, was involved in a bit of a scrap late in the second period. By the time Ullmark arrived, there was a big tangle of players, and an official intervened before he was able to square off with Lindgren or anyone else.
“When he goes in there and sticks up for his guys, I could stand waiting as well,” Ullmark said. “But as soon as he kind of kept going, it’s not really about the actual fight, it’s more about showing up for the guys and showing your presence.”
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