Just when it looked like Jay Beagle might have to beat the Vancouver Canucks, Alex Ovechkin did it as the Washington Capitals won 3-2 Thursday for their first National Hockey League victory at Rogers Arena since 2001.
It seems nearly that long ago that the Canucks last won at home. They’re 0-2-2 this season in Vancouver and winless three the first three games of a five-game homestand.
Ovechkin, the perennial 50-goal scorer who was held pointless last season when the Canucks swept both games against the Capitals, got just enough on his shot to score on a 2-on-1 at 15:05 of the third period after Dmitry Orlov’s stretch pass marooned Vancouver defenceman Alex Edler.