Ovechkin leads Gretzky for most road goals as Caps beat Canucks

Content of the article

VANCOUVER — Alex Ovechkin scored twice, passing Wayne Gretzky for the most road goals in NHL history, and the Washington Capitals beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 on Tuesday night.

Content of the article

Ovechkin has scored 403 of his 793 career away goals. Gretzky holds the overall record with 894.

Content of the article

« It’s always nice to beat the Great One, » Ovechkin said. “It doesn’t matter what kind of milestone it is. It’s history.

Anthony Mantha added a goal and an assist for the Capitals (10-11-3). John Carlson and Martin Fehervary also scored and Darcy Kuemper stopped 31 shots.

Content of the article

Nils Hoglander scored for the Canucks (9-11-3), who had won three in a row. Spencer Martin made 23 saves.

« Spencer was great for us. He’s probably a bit like the other players tonight. They weren’t ready to play and it showed on the scoreboard, » said the Vancouver coach, Bruce Boudreau.

The 37-year-old Ovechkin nearly scored a hat trick when Vancouver pulled Martin off for an extra skater with just over six minutes to play, but his one-shot rocket grazed the outside of the post.

Content of the article

« I think he’s got 13 goals this year and I mean eight or nine was like a new record. So that was cool, » Washington center Dylan Strome said. in anything deserves a standing ovation, which he got. »

Fehervary was the one to seal it, tossing the puck high into the Canucks’ area and into the empty net at 15:57 of the third period.

Ovechkin topped Gretzky at 11:52 of the start of the first period, firing a one-timer from the left circle past Martin to give the Capitals a 2-0 lead with his 13th goal of the season.

« On his second goal, it seems like ‘Oh, maybe (Martin) should have had it.’ But I saw (Ovechkin) score 100 goals like that,” said Boudreau, who coached the Capitals from 2007-2011. “He has a shot that finds its way.

Content of the article

Russia’s star forward got his first of the night at 5:35, stripping the puck from Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes’ stick near the net and blasting a quick shot.

“It could have been 6-1 after the first period, quite frankly, with the number of chances (Washington),” Boudreau said.

It was Ovechkin’s 135th game opener, tying Jaromir Jagr for the most in NHL history.

“(Ovechkin) was really good in first and I think we were really good in first, so it was nice to come out and jump like that,” Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. “He certainly led. We knew we had to have a good first half, have a good game, and you need your best players to do that.

Carlson scored the lone goal in the second, sliding in a loose puck from low hash marks at 18:47 to give Washington a 4-1 cushion.

Content of the article

« It’s frustrating. Because when you lose games, it should never be about your level of competition and your level of battle, » Canucks center JT Miller said. didn’t pass today, they didn’t pass us, they literally beat us and created their own chances.

REMARKS

Washington’s Lars Eller got his 200th career assist. … Miller got an assist, extending his point streak to nine games (four goals, seven assists). … The Capitals swept the two-game season series. … Vancouver assigned winger Vasily Podkolzin and defenseman Jack Rathbone to the Abbotsford Canucks on Monday, then recalled forward Phillip Di Giuseppe from the American Hockey League club on Tuesday.

NEXT

Washington: At Seattle on Thursday in the second of a five-game road trip.

Vancouver: Host Florida on Thursday in the second of a four-game home series.