It's been a frustrating season for Alex Ovechkin to say the least. The first two periods of Wednesday's game against the Ottawa Senators were a microcosm of such as Ovechkin could not convert many quality chances.
Yet, when it counted, Ovechkin broke through.
Ovechkin's highlight-reel goal turned out to be the difference as the Washington Capitals defeated the Senators for the second time in a week in a 5-3 win.
Before that, however, Nicklas Backstrom's power play goal at 9:45 tied the game at 2-2. It was just the Caps' sixth power play goal in their last 64 chances.
After just missing several great chances all night, Ovechkin finally broke through to give Washington the lead for good. On an end-to-end rush, Ovechkin drove hard along the left boards and carried the puck behind the net. He continued his momentum around the right boards, but slammed on the proverbial brakes as he pump-faked Erik Karlsson, who went flying. Ovechkin then pulled another pump fake on a slap shot to get Craig Anderson to commit, but switched to a snap shot and beat Anderson for his ninth goal of the season at 13:50 to give the Caps a 3-2 lead.
Fifteen seconds later, Troy Brouwer - who had a Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal, assist and fight - buried a feed from Marcus Johansson to give Washington a 4-2 lead.
Milan Michalek made things interesting when his power play goal at 16:08 brought Ottawa back within one, but John Carlson's empty-netter sealed the victory with less than a minute left.
The Caps are now 2-3-0 under Dale Hunter with both wins against the Senators.