WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin scored his 922nd goal and Cole Hutson scored his first to lead the Washington Capitals past the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Wednesday night.
Ovechkin is a goal shy of 1,000 — if his 77 post-season tallies are included.
The Capitals are still six points out of a playoff spot with time running out, but this was an encouraging night for the franchise. Hutson made his NHL debut less than a week after the end of his season at Boston University, and the 19-year-old defenceman showed off his smooth skating and stickhandling throughout the night, finally scoring into an empty net with 25.7 seconds remaining.
It was the 40-year-old Ovechkin who opened the scoring in the second period when Rasmus Sandin's pass bounced off his right skate past goalie Linus Ullmark. That momentarily gave Ovechkin sole possession of the team lead in goals this season with 25, but then Tom Wilson beat Ullmark later in the period for his 25th.
Ovechkin has led the Caps in goals in all 20 seasons of his career, sharing the top spot only once — with T.J. Oshie in 2016-17.
With Ullmark pulled, Tim Stutzle poked the puck past Capitals goalie Logan Thompson with 2:41 left in the third to spoil the shutout, but Aliaksei Protas scored into an empty net for Washington just over a minute later. Then Hutson did likewise, to the delight of a home crowd that had been practically cheering his every move.
"I think especially in the second period, there were 10 minutes where we weren't good enough, and it sucks right now. I think we still had enough chances," said Ottawa's Stutzle post-game.
"I think (Washington) did exactly what we wanted to do, play fast, especially with the long change, hem teams in, and yeah, they did that to us. We couldn't break out the puck tonight; we just rimmed the puck every time. They made tape-to-tape passes, and that's when you get hemmed in."
Ovechkin's goal was the 450th of his career at home, moving him past Gordie Howe into sole possession of second place behind Wayne Gretzky (492).
Although Gretzky lost his career mark for regular-season goals to Ovechkin last season, he's the only player who has reached 1,000 with the playoffs included. He finished with 1,016.
Ottawa remained five points out of a playoff spot after losing in regulation for just the third time in 16 games.
Up next
Senators: Host the New York Islanders on Thursday night.
Capitals: Host New Jersey on Friday night.
-- with files from Sportsnet Staff
