We don’t know whether this will be Alex Ovechkin’s final season as a Washington Capital or not, but there’s never a bad time to reflect back on two decades of being treated to this amazing talent. So each game day throughout the 2025-26 season, we’re going to be picking an Ovechkin moment to remember against that day’s opponent as we look back at an incredible career.
Two Goals Propel Caps to Second Round – April 23, 2018
After falling behind 2-0 in their opening-round series to Columbus, the Caps came storming back, winning the next three to force a decisive Game 6 on enemy ice. It was their chance to shake one of the first of many demons that would pop up during that run: could the Capitals (and their captain) take care of business in an elimination game without requiring a Game 7?
With the teams deadlocked at one, late in the second period, that question was lingering in every Caps’ fans anxious mind – until the captain did some serious captaining and gave the team the push it needed to move on to the second round.
First, he gave the Caps back their one-goal lead when he scored a somewhat un-Ovechkin-like goal. Planting his big body and doing battle with David Savard in Sergei Bobrovsky’s face, he was in perfect position to capitalize on a short rebound off of Bobrovsky’s initial save, smacking in a backhander to put the Caps up 2-1 – his 50th career playoff goal.
A few minutes later saw Seth Jones, nine years younger than Ovechkin, unable to keep up with #8’s speed and having to take a holding penalty as a result. On the subsequent power play, he fired a one-timer from the left faceoff circle to give the team its first two-goal lead of the night – and they never looked back.
It didn’t end up being the game-winner, of course, as the two teams would trade a couple of goals in the third en route to a 6-3 win, but it’s hard to look at that game and not see Ovechkin’s two-goal outburst as the turning point of a pivotal elimination game.