Alexander Ovechkin took advantage of the visit of the Tampa Bay Lightning to reach the plateau of 1,400 career points, scoring in the first period on Wednesday night. Washington defeated Tampa Bay 4-3.
He became the 21st player in NHL history to reach that milestone. The next who can achieve the feat is Sidney Crosby, who has 1397 points.
Only Joe Thornton has more NHL points (1,538) than Ovechkin and Crosby among players who entered the NHL since 1992-93.
Ovechkin recovered a puck in the slot before quickly shooting to score his 43rd goal of the season. He is eleven goals behind Auston Matthews and the top scorer in the NHL. Ovi’s goal then allowed the Capitals to take a 3-1 lead.
Before Ovechkin, Martin Fehervary and John Carlson had hit the mark for the Capitals to give Washington a 2-0 lead.
Nikita Kucherov and Nick Paul also found the back of the net in the first half to make it 3-2 following twenty minutes.
In the second period, Carlson found the back of the net for the second time in the game to double the lead.
Ross Colton pulled the Lightning closer with less than three minutes left in the game, but Tampa Bay was unable to complete the comeback.
Carlson finished the game with four points and both of his goals came on the power play.
Ilya Samsonov saved 25 pucks in the win, while Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves in the loss.
Tampa Bay loses in a third straight game.
The Detroit Red Wings managed to protect a slender one-goal lead late in the game to defeat the Winnipeg Jets 3-1.
Forward Sam Gagner took the opportunity to reach the 500-point plateau in the NHL. He opened the scoring shorthanded late in the first period.
With this goal, Gagner also reached the plateau of ten goals in a season for the 11th time in his career.
In the second period, Mark Scheifele scored for the 27th time this season to bring everyone back to square one. Moments later, Blake Wheeler thought he was giving the Jets the lead, but Pierre-Luc Dubois was offside and the goal was disallowed.
That mistake came to haunt Winnipeg in the third period, as Michael Rasmussen hit the target to put the Red Wings back in front.
Winning concluded its excellent evening by destroying the chances of a comeback for the Jets in an empty net.
Dylan Larkin finished the game with two assists, all on Gagner’s goals.
Thomas Greiss had a good game in net with 32 saves on 33 shots.
In the loss, Connor Hellebuyck also blocked 32 pucks.
Behind the Red Wings bench, this is Jeff Blashill’s 200th victory as head coach in the NHL.
Before the game, the Jets paid tribute to the Humboldt Broncos, four years following the tragedy that claimed the lives of 16 people, including ten players and six staff members.
The St. Louis Blues edged the Seattle Kraken 4-1 to reach 40 wins this season.
Robert Thomas opened the scoring midway through the first period when he took advantage of the power play to score his 16th goal of the campaign. Thomas has also reached the 60-point plateau this season thanks to his goal.
Justin Faulk added some in the second period to give the Blues a two-goal lead.
Less than two minutes later, Jordan Eberle hit the target to cut the lead in half.
In the third period, Jordan Kyrou hit the target quickly to restore the Blues’ two-goal lead and Ryan O’Reilly completed the scoring in an empty net.
Brayden Schenn finished the game with two assists.
Ville Husso came out on top with 28 saves to claim his 21st victory of the season and give the Blues a third straight win.