Ovechkin's 874th NHL goal gives Capitals OT win against Senators

OTTAWA -- Alex Ovechkin scored his 874th NHL goal at 3:07 of overtime, giving the Washington Capitals a 1-0 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

Ovechkin, who is 21 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record (894), took a pass from Rasmus Sandin on a 2-on-1 and beat Leevi Merilainen blocker side with a snap shot from the top of the left circle.

“I knew I should take a shot as soon as I can because I thought he may be thinking I will pass it back to ‘Sandy,’” Ovechkin said. “It was a good one, and it went in, so I’ll take it.”

Merilainen was the 179th different goaltender Ovechkin has scored against, passing Jaromir Jagr (178) for the most in NHL history.

“Just the accolades and, like, the different parts of this record are going to just be about a 10-page essay,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “You just continue to check boxes on his remarkable career, scoring on different guys and in different buildings and against every team. It’s remarkable what he’s doing.”

Logan Thompson made 24 saves for his second straight shutout for the Capitals (30-10-5), who are 6-0-3 in their past nine games.

“It was a fun game. It was a playoff-style game," Thompson said. "We knew they were going to come out hard. A lot of skill in that lineup over there. They’ve got a coach that pushes them hard. We just survived a bit. We didn’t get to our game until the third. Credit to the guys, we stuck with it, kind of like we’ve been doing all year. And ‘Ovi’ came in clutch again.”

Thompson is 8-0-0 with a 1.48 goals-against average and .948 save percentage in his past eight starts.

“‘LT’ today was unbelievable,” Ovechkin said. “The first two periods, OT, third period, he was outstanding. I think we just kept rolling. You could see how many chances we had in the third. Obviously, Tom [Wilson] had a breakaway, so I think it was kind of snowballing and coming and eventually we scored.”

Merilainen, who was also going for his second straight shutout, made 26 saves for the Senators (22-18-4), who are 3-0-1 in their past four games.

“I thought we played great,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “Did we have our looks to win the game? Yeah. Could we have played a little better? Yeah, certain parts, but they’ve got a good hockey team. Their goalie played well.”

Merilainen kept the game scoreless at 4:21 of the third period when he stopped a point-blank one-timer from Ovechkin on the power play. He then stretched across with his right pad to rob Andrew Mangiapane at the left post at 5:47.

“Extremely impressed,” Senators defenseman Nick Jensen said of Merilainen. “It's just, it's a huge confidence for us when we have goalies back there that are standing tall and confident in net ... and it's exciting to see someone like that have success.”

Washington was 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

“I thought [Thompson] was fantastic, especially in that second period when we’re taking on water (outshot 9-5)," Carbery said. "To be able to get into the break heading into the locker room at 0-0 at that point I think was a significant accomplishment. And then the guys picked him up.”

NOTES: Ovechkin scored his 13th career overtime goal on the road, passing Jagr and John Tavares for the most in NHL history. ... Ottawa defenseman Donovan Sebrango had 11:38 of ice time in his NHL debut.