Ottawa, Ontario – Alex Ovechkin broke the NHL record for the most goaltenders scored on, beating Leevi Merilainen in overtime to give the Washington Capitals a 1-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.
Merilainen became the 179th goalie Ovechkin has scored against, breaking a tie with Jaromir Jagr atop the career list. The 22-year-old rookie from Finland was appearing in his eighth game in the league.
“You have to know when he’s on the ice he’s going to shoot everything like he did today,” Merilainen said.
Ovechkin’s goal came on his third shot on net and fifth attempt. He took a pass from Rasmus Sandin on a 2-on-1 breakaway and fired it past Merilainen.
“I knew I should take a shot as soon as I can because I thought he may be thinking maybe I will pass it back to Sandy,” Ovechkin said.
“It was a good one, and it went in, so I’ll take it.”
Earlier in January, Ovechkin scored for a 28th time on Marc-Andre Fleury, tops among all the netminders he has faced since arriving in North America in 2005.
Ovechkin is chasing Wayne Gretzky’s career goals record. With No. 874, he moved 20 away from tying Gretzky’s mark of 894 that long seemed unapproachable.
The 39-year-old winger continues scoring at a rate unseen in hockey history. Ovechkin is on pace to get to 895 and beyond this spring.
Ovechkin’s goal against Ottawa was his 21st of the season in just his 29th game – he missed 16 games because of a broken left leg. He has gotten to 20 in all 20 of his seasons in the league, including 2013 when a lockout shortened it to 48 games and 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic cut the schedule to 56 games.
The Capitals – with 30 wins, 10 losses and five overtime losses – are atop the NHL standings.
More Thursday NHL games
▶ (At) Columbus 4, San Jose 1: James van Riemsdyk scored twice and Columbus beat San Jose to extend their win streak to six games – their longest since January 2020.
Kent Johnson (Michigan) had a goal and an assist and Adam Fantilli (Michigan) scored a goal to stretch his point streak to eight games. Van Riemsdyk’s second was an empty-netter with 2:01 remaining.
Tyler Toffoli scored for San Jose, while Alexandar Georgiev stopped 30 shots. The Sharks have now lost four of their last five games and remain at the bottom of the Pacific Division.
▶ (At) Toronto 4, New Jersey 3 (OT): William Nylander scored his second goal of the game at 1:10 of overtime to give Toronto a victory over New Jersey.
Nylander added an assist, Auston Matthews also had two goals and Joseph Woll stopped 21 shots. Mitch Marner and Jake McCabe had two assists each.
Nico Hischier had two power-play goals for New Jersey. Jack Hughes had a goal and two assists and Jacob Markstrom made 37 saves.
▶ (At) Tampa Bay 4, Anaheim 3 (SO): Jake Guentzel scored the only goal in the shootout, Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli and Guentzel scored for Tampa Bay during regulation.
Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 34 saves and stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout.
Ex-Red Wing Robby Fabbri, Troy Terry and Leo Carlsson scored for the Ducks, who fell to 1-3-1 on a six-game road trip. Lukas Dostal stopped 32 shots for Anaheim.
▶ Philadelphia 5, (at) N.Y. Islanders 3: Sean Couturier had a goal and an assist, Travis Konecny added three assists and Philadelphia defeated New York.
Morgan Frost, Garnet Hathaway, Cam York and Noah Cates also scored for Philadelphia. Samuel Ersson made 26 saves as the Flyers won for the third time in four games.
Bo Horvat, Mathew Barzal and Anders Lee scored for New York. Ilya Sorokin stopped 19 shots after a two-game absence due to illness, but the Islanders lost their second straight.
▶ (At) St. Louis 4, Calgary 1: Brayden Schenn scored twice, Jordan Kyrou had his 20th goal and St. Louis beat Calgary to sweep a two-game set in St. Louis.
Colton Parayko also scored for St. Louis and Joel Hofer stopped 28 shots. Dylan Holloway added two assists.
Yegor Sharangovich scored for the Flames. Dustin Wolf had 25 saves.
▶ (At) Winnipeg 2, Seattle 1: Dylan DeMelo scored with 27 seconds left to play to give Winnipeg a victory over Seattle.
Matty Beniers (Michigan) scored in the first period for Seattle and Mark Scheifele scored a power-play goal for Winnipeg in the second period. Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck made 18 saves and Seattle’s Joey Daccord stopped 34 shots.
The Jets stretched their point streak to five games (4-0-1) and improved to 8-2-2 in their last 12.
▶ Montreal 3, (at) Dallas 1: Alex Newhook’s deflection broke a tie midway through the third period and unbeaten rookie Jakub Dobes made 32 saves as Montreal defeated Dallas.
Dobes improved to 4-0-0, with all four victories coming on the road against teams with winning records: Florida, Colorado, Washington and Dallas. The 23-year-old goalie was brought up from Laval of the AHL following the NHL’s Christmas break to back up Sam Montembeault.
Jason Robertson scored for the Stars, who have lost two of their last three following a season-best seven-game winning streak. Jake Oettinger stopped 21 shots but had his six-game winning streak snapped.
▶ (At) Nashville 3, Chicago 2 (SO): Steven Stamkos scored in regulation and had Nashville’s third straight shootout goal in their victory over Chicago.
Filip Forsberg tied it with 3:03 left with his 300th NHL goal, and Juuse Saros made 24 saves in regulation and overtime. Gustav Nyquist and Ryan O’Reilly scored on Nashville’s first two attempts in the tiebreaker and Stamkos put it away on the third.
Connor Bedard and Alec Martinez scored for Chicago, and Arvid Soderblom made 39 saves. The Blackhawks have lost four in a row.
▶ N.Y. Rangers 5, (at) Utah 3: Artemi Panarin scored two goals, Chris Kreider had the go-ahead goal off a defensive deflection with 9:38 to play, and New York rallied for a victory over Utah.
Matias Maccelli scored twice to lead Utah and Barrett Hayton assisted on both goals. Karel Vejmelka had 20 saves, but Utah dropped its third straight at home and suffered its 10th loss in 12 games.
▶ Edmonton 4, (at) Colorado 3: Evan Bouchard scored with 6:55 left and surging Edmonton overcame a three-goal deficit to beat Colorado.
Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist, Viktor Arvidsson and Brett Kulak also scored and Stuart Skinner recovered from a shaky start to make 22 saves.
Logan O’Connor opened the scoring 5:17 into the game and Nathan MacKinnon scored twice as Colorado scored three times on its first five shots.
▶ L.A. Kings 5, (at) Vancouver 1: Alex Turcotte scored twice and added an assist as Los Angeles thumped struggling Vancouver.
Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala each had a goal and an assist. Warren Foegele also scored for the Kings.
Quinn Hughes scored for Vancouver with a long drive during 4-on-4 play 14:52 into the second.
Wild-card playoff race
Atlantic
▶ Toronto 58
▶ Florida 55
▶ Tampa Bay 51
Metropolitan
▶ Washington 65
▶ New Jersey 58
▶ Carolina 55
Wild-card spots
▶ Columbus 50
▶ Boston 49
Non-playoff teams
▶ Ottawa 48
▶ Montreal 48
▶ Detroit 46
▶ Philadelphia 46
▶ N.Y. Rangers 45
▶ Pittsburgh 44
▶ N.Y. Islanders 41
▶ Buffalo 39
Malkin’s home burglarized
Penguins star Evgeni Malkin’s home was burglarized on Saturday, the same day the Penguins hosted the Ottawa Senators.
KDKA-TV, citing unnamed sources, reported that Malkin’s three Stanley Cup rings were among the items taken during the robbery.
The Penguins confirmed the burglary of Malkin’s home in Sewickley, a Pittsburgh suburb, but declined to get into details, citing the ongoing investigation.
“We are working closely with local authorities and team security,” the team said in a statement late Tuesday night. “Malkin has requested that his privacy be respected during this time and we will have no further comment on the matter.”
Malkin did not play during Pittsburgh’s 5-0 loss to Ottawa on Saturday due to an upper-body injury. He returned from a four-game absence on Tuesday night and had an assist in a 4-2 loss to Seattle. Malkin spoke after the game but did not mention the incident.
The 38-year-old Malkin is the latest victim in a series of home invasions of high-profile athletes. Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s house was targeted while the Bengals played Monday Night Football in Dallas in December.
The homes of Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were broken into in October. In the NBA, Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis had his home broken into Nov. 2 and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley Jr.’s home was burglarized on Sept. 15 while he was at a Minnesota Vikings game.
KDKA also reported that Malkin’s home security system was down during the robbery and that his safe was left open.
All-American Game
Forward Ryker Lee (Madison/USHL) scored the winning goal for Team White at the 4:54 of the third period in a 3-2 victory over Team Blue at the All-American Game on Thursday at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth Township.
Kade Stengrim and Will Moore (NTDP) scored the other goals for Team White. Edison Engle and Teddy Mutryn replied for Team Blue.
Westland’s Joey Slavick made seven saves and allowed one goal in 29 minutes for Team White.
Michigan-area hockey schedule
Thursday
Red Wings 5, Panthers 2
All-American Game, Team White 3, Team Blue 2
Friday
Cleveland at Grand Rapids, 8
Michigan State at Michigan, 7
Western Michigan at North Dakota, 8
Northern Michigan at Bemidji State, 8
Michigan Tech at Minnesota State, 8
Bowling Green at Ferris State, 7
Saturday
Red Wings at Lightning, 7
Cleveland at Grand Rapids, 7
Michigan at Michigan State, 7:30
Western Michigan at North Dakota, 7
Northern Michigan at Bemidji State, 7
Michigan Tech at Minnesota State, 7
Bowling Green at Ferris State, 6
Sioux Falls at NTDP U17, 7
Sunday
Red Wings at Stars, 8
Sioux Falls at NTDP U17, 2
