Alex Ovechkin scored his 484th NHL goal, breaking Sergei Fedorov’s record for most by a Russian-born player, but the Dallas Stars bounced back to beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2, on Thursday night.
Ovechkin’s goal came at 7:01 of the third period, knotting the score at 2-2. He converted a backhand pass from Nicklas Backstrom, shoving the puck into the left side of the net.
The sellout crowd stood and cheered, many of them chanting “Ovi! Ovi!” to celebrate the milestone. A video montage followed, concluding with Fedorov offering congratulations to the new Russian scoring champion.
Just more than four minutes later, Jason Spezza converted a turnover by Washington’s Jason Chimera into the go-ahead goal.
Ovechkin scored No. 484 in his 777th game; Fedorov had 483 goals in 1,248 games.
Although Fedorov played most of his games with the Detroit Red Wings, he passed the previous record holder, Alexander Mogilny, with his 474th goal in Washington’s 6-5 win over Dallas on Oct. 25, 2008 — the last time the Capitals beat the Stars.
Dallas has won its last eight games against the Capitals, including five in a row in Washington. Kari Lehtonen stopped 33 shots for the Stars, improving to 9-1 this season.
The victory boosted the Stars’ point total to 32, best in the Western Conference.
Dallas went up 1-0 at 9:28 of the first period when Tyler Seguin scored as Patrick Sharp provided a full-body screen of Philipp Grubauer. The Capitals challenged the play, calling for goalie interference, but the goal stood.
That cost Washington its lone timeout.
Backstrom tied it late in the period with a shot that ricocheted off Dallas defenseman Jordie Benn and into the corner of the net.
The Stars outshot Washington, 11-8, in a scoreless second period.
Cody Eakin put Dallas ahead,, 2-1 at 4:45 of the third period, deflecting a shot by John Klingberg past Grubauer.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.