BUFFALO, N.Y. — Alex Ovechkin has been Public Enemy No. 1 here since a pair of contentious confrontations with Daniel Briere two years ago, and he didn’t improve those relations last night.
Ovechkin, who is booed every time he touches the puck at HSBC Arena, had two goals to help his Washington Capitals to a 3-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres in front of a sold-out crowd.
His second tally came with 6:41 left and put the Caps up by two. It was a wrist shot from near the left faceoff circle that beat Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller below his glove. After the goal, Ovechkin skated into the corner and taunted the patrons by gesturing with both hands for more jeers before slamming into the glass.
“I hear something when I score first goal — I hear them booing me, so I just started smiling,” Ovechkin said. “It is fun.”
Added Caps goalie Olie Kolzig: “I see that shot every day in practice, and I know what Ryan was going through on that third one. He just overpowers you sometimes. You think you’ve got it, and it squeezes itself in. He’s a fantastic player — I don’t known what else you guys can write about him.”
It was Ovechkin’s 54th of the season and sixth in three games, which pushed him past Bob Carpenter’s 53 in 1984-85 for the second-best single-season total in franchise history and left him six behind Dennis Maruk with 14 games to play.
He also became the first player in team history with three seasons of more than 90 points, and his 92 are three more than Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin for the league lead. Ovechkin now boasts three of the franchise’s top eight season point totals.
The win kept the Caps three points shy of the Southeast Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes, who defeated Atlanta 6-3 last night. It also moved Washington within two points of Philadelphia for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference should the Caps not catch the Hurricanes.
“It is good month for us. It is very interesting when you play for something,” Ovechkin said. “Last [two] years, we don’t play for something. We knew after three months we weren’t going to playoffs, and we just start thinking about vacations.”
Ovechkin put the Caps in front with the only goal of the first period. Rookie center Nicklas Backstrom sprung Ovechkin on a breakaway with a perfect outlet pass from more than 100 feet away, and Ovechkin beat Miller by faking a shot and then slipping a forehand attempt under the falling goaltender.
“Hopefully it was longer than his,” Backstrom joked about Ovechkin’s long home run pass to him in the previous game. “No, just kidding. I saw him, and I was trying to pass along the boards, but the two ’D’ went to the boards trying to read me.”
Buffalo’s Ales Kotalik tied the game 12:37 into the second period with a shot through a screen on the power play, but the Caps didn’t wait long to answer.
Backstrom had a mini-breakaway seconds later but was rebuffed by Miller. Buffalo forward Steve Bernier tried to skate out of danger, but Ovechkin spun him around at the blue line and forced him to lose control of the puck.
Viktor Kozlov picked it up and sent a pass to Backstrom, who was alone in front of the net. Backstrom slid a backhanded shot between Miller’s legs for his 11th of the season and second in as many nights.
Bernier actually had skated the puck past the blue line, but his stick brought it back into the Caps’ offensive zone after Ovechkin’s hit, which nullified a potential offsides call.
Kolzig, who finished the night with 25 saves and is one win from 300 for his career, had a scary moment 12 seconds into the second period. He left his crease and dove to knock the puck away from danger, but Buffalo’s Daniel Paille crashed into him.
“It wasn’t my normal play there, but I felt, ’What the [heck]? I’ve got a good start on him,’ and it worked out OK,” said Kolzig, who had a stiff neck and a minor headache but no worries about a concussion.
Center David Steckel was not so lucky. After falling down in front of the Caps net, he nearly took a slap shot from the right point in the face. He got his hand up in time to deflect it, but the Caps rookie will miss two to three weeks with a broken right index finger.
It was the fourth win in five games for the Caps after a 6-6-3 stretch. It also was the team’s first win in this building in five tries and a fine defensive effort against a team whose collective speed has given the Caps plenty of trouble in recent seasons.
Caps report
Last night at HSBC Center in Buffalo, N.Y.
QUOTABLE
“I loved him. He could play on my team any time.”
— Caps coach Bruce Boudreau on Buffalo forward Adam Mair, who played for him with Manchester in the American Hockey League during the 2001-02 season
BY THE NUMBERS
9 Goals in the previous five games combined against Boston before the Caps had 10 on Monday.
— Corey Masisak
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