Ovechkin off to historic start
WA SHINGTON Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin on Saturday became the first player in a century to notch back-to-back hat-tricks in the first two games of an NHL season.
Russia’s Ovechkin followed up his opening night hat-trick with a four-goal performance on in the Capitals’ 6-1 rout of the Montreal Canadiens.
Ovechkin became just the fourth NHL player to have a hat-trick in each of his team’s first two games of a season and the first since 1917 – when three players did it.
After scoring three goals in the third period of Thursday’s season opener, Ovechkin scored three times in the first period against Montreal. Hats rained onto the ice when he made it 4-0 with 1:50 left in the period.
Ovechkin, who started the scoring just 20 seconds in, picked up his 19th career hat-trick to tie him with Peter Bondra for the Capitals’ all-time club lead.
He capped his fourth career four-goal game late in the second period when the rebound of his shot deflected off a Montreal player’s stick into the net.
Ovechkin made it 1-0 with an acrobatic goal when he sped to a loose puck in the Montreal zone, spun and fired high over goaltender Corey Price’s shoulder.
TJ Oshie put home the rebound of a Nicklas Backstrom shot 26 seconds later, and Ovechkin capped the early barrage with a power-play goal from the left circle at the 2:51 mark.
Ovechkin completed his hat-trick when he deflected Evgeny Kuznetsov’s shot past Price.
The Canadiens pulled within 4-1 on Brendan Gallagher’s short-handed goal at 4:50 of t he second period, but t hen Ovechkin and Nathan Walker scored less than t wo minutes apart late in t he period. After scoring just 16 evenstrength goals last season, Ovechkin already has six.
Australian scores on debut
His teammate Walker also made history on Saturday, as the first Australian to play in the NHL, scoring a goal to boot. The 23-year-old Walker netted the Capitals’ sixth goal of the night.
The goal was originally credited to Devante Smith-Pelly before officials reviewed it and awarded it to Walker.
“At first, I wasn’t sure if it was a stick or the puck,” Walker said of feeling the puck t hat deflected of f his lef t leg.
Smith-Pelly, who realised the shot deflected off of Walker, asked for the puck as a memento for the Aussie.
When the scoring change was announced, Walker’s mother Ceri frantically waved an Australian flag as Ovechkin skated over to the bench to tap Walker’s helmet. “It’s incredible,” Walker said. “A really special moment.”
Walker’s youthful ice hockey dreams were fuelled by movies such as The Mighty Ducks and Mystery, Alaska.
He left Australia to hone his hockey skills in the Czech Republic, and in 2014 became the first Australian drafted by an NHL team.
Since then, he’d been playing for the Capitals’ minor league affiliate in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
The Capitals celebrated his NHL debut with a video featuring congratulatory snippets from fellow Australians who have broken into US pro sports leagues.
NBA stars Andrew Bogut, Matthew Dellavedova, Thon Maker and Aron Baynes were featured, along with NFL players Adam Gotsis and Sav Rocca.