Even a cheater can’t stop the red-hot Alex Ovechkin, who seized a share of the NHL goal-scoring lead Sunday with this bizarre empty-netter.
With Ovie’s Capitals leading Steven Stamkos’s Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 and time winding down in Sunday’s contest, the Lightning pulled their goalie.
Put on the ice in a defensive situation, Ovechkin uses his speed to track down a loose puck and begins streaking for the vacant cage.
An extra stick reaches onto the ice from over the Tampa bench and makes contact with Ovechkin’s stick, a weak and illegal attempt to stop the Ovie train.
The guilty party? First-year centre Alex Killorn. The rookie mistake caused an automatic goal, but Ovechkin put the puck in anyway.
Ovie’s pair on Sunday now gives him goals in 11 of his last 14 games; his ability to find the net has played no small part in giving the Caps the Southeast lead.
“Right now I feel pretty good, and again, winning games is the most important thing,” Ovechkin said. “Of course I’m happy I’m scoring goals. The beginning of the year was a pretty hard time for our whole organization. Right now, we’re back on track.”
Ovechkin’s 25th goal vaults him into a tie for the Rocket Richard Trophy race with Tampa Bay Lightning sniper Stamkos, who was kept off the score sheet Sunday, and comes much to the delight of his fiancee, tennis pro Maria Kirilenko, who was in attendance.
Rough Google Russian-to-English translation: Confirmation of this man is a happy woman next to him!