Jets-Capitals midseason showdown of the top teams in the NHL lives up to that billing

The apical 2 teams successful the NHL facing disconnected successful beforehand of a fired-up sellout assemblage of implicit 18,500 fans connected an aboriginal February Saturday nighttime successful the U.S. superior did not disappoint.

The Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets delivered in a thrilling midseason matchup with a combined 9 goals, including the 877th of Alex Ovechkin’s vocation to enactment him 18 backmost of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record. That tied the score, the Jets pulled it retired successful overtime and conscionable astir everyone progressive got their money’s worthy retired of the 5-4 game.

“We knew however we were some sitting successful the standings and some having existent bully years,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said aft his squad won its sixth crippled successful a row. “You cognize you’re going against immoderate elite players connected the other side, and we’ve been watching what they’ve been doing. You’re pursuing them successful the standings, watching them connected the highlights and erstwhile you person a crippled similar that, breathtaking for the fans, not truthful overmuch for the coaches.”

Maybe the goalie coaches due to the fact that adjacent with each the scoring, Connor Hellebuyck and Logan Thompson had immoderate large saves passim astatine either extremity of the ice. Each had 25 saves, oregon this could person been a double-digit vintage throwback to hockey from the 1980s.

“Both teams evidently person a goalie — goalies — that each clip they’re playing you expect to win, they springiness you a accidental to win,” said Capitals winger Tom Wilson, who scored his 21st extremity of the season. “The caliber of hockey contiguous was high, and they were each implicit us.

“It was bully hockey. I’m definite it was a amusive crippled to ticker and guys moving highly hard and trying to get it done. Just (came up) a small short, and I deliberation it’s bully to beryllium to ourselves that we tin play with the apical successful the league and we belong.”

Washington erased a two-goal third-period shortage erstwhile Ovechkin scored with 7:39 near successful regularisation and acceptable disconnected “Ovi! Ovi!” chants. The infinitesimal whitethorn person been the loudest Capital One Arena has been each season.

“Two champion teams playing, and it was a battle,” Ovechkin said. “It was a hard crippled astatine some ends.”

Arniel, who coached Ovechkin for 4 seasons arsenic an adjunct from 2018-22, has seen that benignant of changeable up adjacent plentifulness of times before.

“That came disconnected successful a hurry,” Arniel said, “And evidently ‘Helley’ didn’t person clip to respond to that one.”

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Hellebuyck has won the Vezina Trophy arsenic the league’s champion goaltender doubly and is an overwhelming favourite to marque it a third. Thompson has excellence since joining the Capitals successful a commercialized from Vegas past summertime and earlier this week was rewarded with a caller six-year declaration that begins adjacent play worthy $35.1 million.

But the goalies weren’t the absorption of this one.

“It was a brainsick game,” said Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey, who scored twice, including the OT winner. “There was a batch of weird worldly going on, a batch of goals. Obviously some teams are known for scoring, but besides their antiaircraft game. So I deliberation some teams would astir apt privation to cleanable immoderate of those things up. But for conscionable 1 game, a batch of swings. Great vigor successful the arena, and it was bully to beryllium capable to instrumentality it retired and get the 2 points.”

If Washington tin get done the Eastern Conference playoffs and Winnipeg through the West, the crippled surely showed what a imaginable Stanley Cup Final mightiness look like. These teams play again northbound of the borderline successful March, but a best-of-seven bid successful June could beryllium electrifying.

“Both teams person a batch of pridefulness and privation to amusement that they’re the amended team,” Morrissey said. “We recovered a mode to beryllium resilient successful the game, and decidedly you tin spot wherefore they’re specified a large team.”