HO CHI MINH CITY — Alex Ovechkin score almost at will against Canada Canada and a few steps closer to Wayne Gretzky’s NHL scoring record.
Ovechkin scored his 30th career hat trick to accelerate his pursuit of Gretkzy’s mark, Charlie Lindgren made 31 saves against his first NHL team and Washington capital circling around Montreal on the way to the 9-2 track on Saturday.
With his 24th goal of the campaign, Ovechkin has scored a minimum of 24 in each of his 18 NHL seasons, according to ESPN Information & Statistics research. His least game is 24 of 45 games between 2020-21.
When asked if he would love to face the Canadian team after scoring 37 goals in 53 games with them, Ovechkin replied: “No, I just love playing hockey.” He and the Capitals enjoyed every bit of this game.
Ovechkin’s career goals 804, 805 and 806 put him 88 behind Gretzky’s record of 894 that had long seemed unattainable. He has scored six times in four games to reach 26 goals this season, half a point ahead of his 10th season scoring 50 goals, one more than the “Great”.
Lindgren stops former teammate of Canadaiens Nick Suzuki on breakaway between several key stops to win the ninth of his previous 10 starts. A free agent untrained by Montreal, Lindgren was undefeated in two games with the organization he spent his first five professional seasons with.
“They had some chances, but I think we counter-attacked very well and obviously we did a good job putting the ball in the net as well,” said Lindgren. “I have a lot of respect for a lot of people on the team there. But beating your old team certainly feels a little sweeter.”
The Capitals dominated, missing for a brief period from the end of the first half to five minutes or so of the second. They made the Canadians look helpless and messy in their area, and on the seventh goal, many Washington players circled past Montreal defenders. Marcus Johansson scored.
Erik Gustafsson, Garnet Hathaway and Nic Dowd scored before Ovechkin made it 4-1, middle dylan strome end for a power play target at the end of the second and Anthony Mantha added a target. Washington has won 11 of 13 games to go from injury woes to a solid place in the playoffs and will soon receive reinforcements in the form of forwards Tom Wilson, Nicklas Backstrom and TJ Oshie on the verge of coming back from injury.
“This whole December, the way we play shows how good we are,” said Gustafsson, who has six goals and six assists in the Capitals’ best-ever seven-game scoring streak of the season. said. “And if we can continue this – we have big players coming back too soon – it’s an exciting time we have here.”
Cole Caufield scored his 20th and 21st goals of the season for Team Canada in their fifth consecutive loss. He is the first Montreal player to score 20 goals in 37 fewer games since Martin Rucinsky and Brian Savage in 1995-96.
“He’s pretty good – I’ll leave it at that,” Lindgren said. “He’s got a pair tonight, but yeah, he’s a great hockey player.”
Allen conceded 9 goals from 38 shots for the Canadian team, which lost 8/9. Coach Martin St. Louis made several mistakes by letting Allen play the whole game instead of pulling him out.
“I could have helped him,” St. Louis said. “They reached eight, nine with four minutes to go at that point, thinking I was past the point of no return in that division. But I think as a young coach, this is it. a learning experience for me.”
The Capitals will wrap up their three home games last Tuesday night buffalo sword.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
