Washington Capitals 4-2 Boston Bruins
The NHL regular season is winding down, with roughly ten games left for each team to secure a spot in the upcoming Stanley Cup Playoffs.
On the edge of the Eastern Conference race, the Washington Capitals hosted the Boston Bruins last night. Both teams had carved out enough points to feel reasonably secure as they navigated the final stretch and aimed for the most meaningful games of the year.
Before this meeting, Washington had taken two wins against Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh, then absorbed two losses in games against Carolina and New Jersey, with a combined score of 2:11. The Capitals, who are often nicknamed the “Bears,” had won four of their last five and entered the game as favorites, given their recent form and standing in the pack chasing the playoffs.
The home club struck first. In the fifth minute of the second period, Conor Sheary fed the puck to John Carlson’s open aim, and Carlson found the back of the net from the right circle to make it 1:0.
The visitors answered four minutes later as Nick Foligno pulled a shot from the doorstep, drawing Vitek Vanecek out of position and setting up Curtis Lazar for the equalizer at 1:1.
Moments later Boston surged ahead when Charlie McAvoy won a loose puck near center and fed Eric Haula, who calmly deposited it into the far corner for a 1:2 lead.
Yet the Bears did not concede the advantage for long. Five minutes before the end of the second period, Anthony Mantha sent a one-timer from the left wing to Lars Eller, whose shot deflected off a defender and slipped past the goaltender Tom Wilson could not reach in time, tying the score at 2:2.
In the third, Washington broke through again. Eller skated behind the goal line, threaded a pass across the crease, and a deflection off a Bruins defender redirected the puck past Ulmark to put the Capitals up 3:2.
Ovechkin then sealed the win with an empty-net tally assisted by Evgeny Kuznetsov, finishing the scoring at 4:2 in favor of Washington.
Diary
The 36-year-old captain added his 45th goal of the season in the latest outing, bringing his career NHL goal total to 775. This moved him within 26 goals of Gordie Howe for second place on the all-time list of NHL goal scorers, underscoring his enduring scoring prowess as he approaches another milestone season.
Ovechkin also joined Wayne Gretzky and several others in the group of players who have reached the 100-goal plateau in a season, continuing a remarkable trend of prolific scoring in the modern era. His latest marker marked the 100th goal of the regular season for him, a feat achieved during April play, highlighting his durability and consistency across seasons.
With his performance, Ovechkin became the tenth player in NHL history to score 300 or more goals after turning 36, joining an elite cohort of late-career scorers who continued to produce at a high level well into their 30s.
Historically, Gordie Howe leads the all-time list with 415 goals after turning 36, followed by a hall-of-fame lineup including Phil Esposito, Johnny Bucyk, Teemu Selanne, Jean Beliveau, Brett Hull, Mark Messier, Jaromir Jagr, and Jerome Iginla, each contributing more than 300 goals in their 30s. The current comparison emphasizes how rare and notable it is for a player to maintain elite goal-scoring output across age benchmarks in the league’s history.
In addition, the Capitals captain stands as a prominent figure in single-season goal totals for players aged 36 and older, a record previously held by Gordie Howe when he scored 44 goals in the 1968-69 season at age 40. The benchmark for this category is Teemu Selanne, who at 36 tallied 48 goals in the 2006-07 season, illustrating the extraordinary conditions required to reach such heights in the later stages of a career.
The empty-net finish for Ovechkin marked his ninth goal of the season in that manner, echoing a milestone once achieved by Pavel Bure during the late 1990s when he tallied nine empty-net goals as a member of the Florida Panthers.
99% in Washington playoffs
While the Western Conference still holds a tight race for playoff spots, the Eastern Conference has become more defined. With the Capitals holding steady, only a dramatic collapse would jeopardize their standing in the playoff picture. Theoretically, teams like the New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets could challenge for a last berth, but such scenarios would require Washington to lose all remaining games in regular time and for those teams to erase significant gaps in just a few remaining games.
Looking ahead, Washington’s next test comes against the Philadelphia Flyers. The game is scheduled to take place on April 13, with the time listed for the U.S. capital local time, keeping fans eager for the outcome of the playoff push.