It was a huge night for the Washington Capitals last night as they beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in a shootout.
The win leapfrogged the Capitals over the Penguins and into a tie with the Islanders for second in the Metro Division with 96 points. The Capitals and Isle each have 4 games left with the Penguins one game up with 5.
It was another historical night for the Washington Capitals as Alex Ovechkin became the All-Time Leading Goal Scorer in franchise history, moving past the great Peter Bondra. Bondra broke Mike Gartner's Capitals record back in 2001 and had gone uncontested until the Great 8 came to Washington.
"It's obviously a huge accomplishment, but records are to beat them," Ovechkin said. "Sooner or later, someone will beat my record. It's nice to be in history."
Ovechkin has put himself in strong contention for the Hart Trophy with his biggest competition being the goaltender he beat twice last night, Carey Price. Ovechkin has raised the level of his game yet again as he will most likely be the only player to break the 50-goal plateau this season. He also leads the league in Game-Winning-Goals with 11 and Power Play Goals with 24.
He is now 9 points away from 900 and 26 goals away from 500 in his career.
Ovechkin wasn't the only one who had a milestone night.
Barry Trotz quietly reached the 600th win of his NHL coaching career. Trotz becomes the 13th coach in NHL history to reach 600 and just the 4th active coach behind Joel Quenneville, Ken Hithchcock and Lindy Ruff. The humble coach treated this win just like any other:
“I don’t really think about the individual stuff,… Trotz said. “It’d probably mean a lot more when I’m not in the game or I’m not coaching anymore or whatever. I will probably look back and realize I’ve been very privileged to work with some great people for a long time and a lot of great players that allowed us to win some hockey games.…
Trotz's career began in the Washington Capitals organization when he was head coach of the Baltimore Skipjacks and later the Portland Pirates. When then Caps GM David Poile moved on from DC and over to the newly formed Nashville Predators, he brought Trotz along. Barry Trotz went on to win 557 games with the Predators.
Trotz has brought his winning style to Washington and helped the Capitals to 43 wins this season and a second place seat in the East.
Congrats to both Ovechkin and Trotz on the milestones.
More to come...