Washington Capitals left winger Alexander Ovechkin had an outstanding month of December. He was not only named the player of the month, but closed out the 2022 calendar year with a hat trick against the Montreal Canadiens in a 9-2 Washington win on Saturday afternoon.
Player of the month for December 2022
Ovechkin had 13 goals and nine assists for 22 points in 15 regular season games in the twelfth month of the year. He was a +12 with two penalty minutes, two power play goals and 71 shots on goal in 323 shifts. Ovechkin was on the ice for 301 minutes and 41 seconds.
History Made
Ovechkin also made hockey history. He not only became the third hockey player ever to reach the 800-goal plateau, but he also moved into second place all-time in goals with 806. Wayne Gretzky is the National Hockey League All-Time leader with 894 goals. The only other NHL player with more goals than Gretzky and Ovechkin in hockey history is Gordie Howe, who finished his career with 801 goals.
Hat Trick against the Canadiens
Ovechkin recorded his 30th NHL hat trick and 31st all-time (including the Stanley Cup Playoffs) on Saturday in the touchdown win over Montreal. He scored his first goal of the game at 9:06 of the second period from Trevor Van Riemsdyk of Middletown, New Jersey and Lars Eller of Rodovre, Denmark. The goal put the Capitals up 4-1. Ovechkin then scored his second goal of the game at 1:22 of the third period on the power play from Erik Gustafsson of Nynashamn, Sweden and Marcus Johansson of Landskrona, Sweden, to put the Capitals up 6-2. The Great Eight then closed out the scoring from Conor Sheary of Winchester, Massachusetts at 16:35 of the third period.
2022-23 NHL season stats
In 2022-23, Ovechkin has 26 goals and 19 assists for 45 points in 39 games. He has 18 penalty minutes with 16 power-play points, three game-winning goals, 169 shots on goal, two faceoff wins, 12 blocked shots, 101 hits, 19 takeaways and 23 giveaways.
Third in the Metropolitan
The Capitals have a record of 21 wins, 13 regulation losses and five losses in extra time for 47 points. They are behind the Carolina Hurricanes (56 points) and the New Jersey Devils (49 points).
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