Follow @james_tanner123 The Capitals beat the Senators to kick off the 2017-18 season last night, and my boy Ovechkin had four goals (three that counted), three in the third period and a bonus one in the shoot-out.
It was quite the auspicious debut for the much maligned (mainly by me) Capitals.
Check the sick second goal out and try not to catch anything, cause it's probably contiguous.
What do you need to know about the game? Here's some stats and facts and stuff:
In 50 minutes of 5v5 time, the Capitals controlled the play at a 55% rate.
All of Ovechkin's goals came at 5v5, and all three were assisted by Kuznetsov.
Rookie Jacob Vrana notched two assists.
Orlov and Niskanen were dominant, putting up a CF% in the mid-sixties.
People were critical of the Ness/ Chorney pairing - and the coach didn't play them too much - but stats-wise at least they were effective, dropping a 52% when paired.
You can live with that. If it holds up.
if it doesn't Orlov is pretty awesome and he should get more credit as an elite defenseman.
All in all, it was a great beginning to the seasons, mostly because there was nine goals, a hat trick and a shootout. Who could complain about that?
Certainly not the Capitals. After the summer they had, it was a great start.
stats from naturalhattrick.com