• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Ovechkin nets four goals in Capitals' win

Dec 30, 2007 - 3:59 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- Alex Ovechkin continues to haunt the Ottawa Senators.

Ovechkin scored four goals as the Washington Capitals handed the Ottawa Senators their first loss in five games with an 8-6 victory on Saturday.

Ovechkin scored goals in every period to record his first hat trick since he scored all three goals in the Capitals' 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on December 15, 2006. He also had a hat trick in Washington's 3-2 victory over Anaheim on January 13, 2006.

The 22-year-old Russian superstar, who added an empty-net goal with 28 seconds remaining, now has 30 goals on the season.

"It was a a crazy game, but fun to play," Ovechkin said. "I can't remember when I scored that many goals before. There was lots of goals scored, so maybe we should apologize to our goalie, but then again, we won the game, so why apologize?"

Ovechkin wasn't the only one with a hat trick in this game.

Ottawa's Mike Fisher recorded a natural hat trick, recording all three of his goals in just over 11 minutes in the third period.

"We're disappointed with our game tonight," Fisher said. "It's uncharacteristic of us to give up that many goals. We had our chances to tie it and win it, so it's frustrating to lose that one. But we have to be better."

Daniel Alfredsson had two goals - including one on a penalty shot - to remain red-hot for Ottawa. The team captain has at least one point in 14 of his last 15 games, tallying eight goals and 12 assists during that span.

"We kept coming at them, but we gave up too many goals, and at times when we needed to hold them," Alfredsson said. "You can't come back like that very often against a team with weapons like Ovechkin. Hopefully we learned a good lesson tonight."

After Alexander Semin opened the scoring 61 seconds into the game, Ovechkin doubled the Capitals' advantage under four minutes later.

The top overall pick of the 2004 draft skated in from the left point and wristed a shot through the pads of goaltender Martin Gerber.

After Alfredsson halved the deficit with under eight minutes remaining in the period, Ovechkin scored his second goal of the game after scoring on a 2-on-1 with defenseman Tom Poti. A simple tap-in gave Washington a 3-1 lead with 3:13 expired in the second session.

Michael Nylander and Nicklas Backstrom added second-period goals for Washington, while Alfredsson scored on a penalty shot for Ottawa in the second period.

After Jason Spezza scored four minutes into the third, Fisher cut the Capitals' lead to 5-4 with his first goal of the game at the 6:41 mark.

With Ottawa shorthanded, Fisher skated up the wing, deked around a defender and wristed the puck over netminder Olaf Kolzig's glove.

"I'm getting too old for these kinds of games," said Kolzig, 37. "I think both goaltenders probably had a goal or two they'd like back. But the main thing is we got the win, and it's a big one on the road for our club. It certainly was a ratings booster."

After Nylander scored his second goal of the game to regain Washington's two-goal lead, Fisher had a power-play tally to bring Ottawa back within one.

"When you win an 8-6 game, it's always fun, but obviously there are things we need to do better defensively next time," Nylander said. "We can't forget we allowed six goals against us. We got off to an extremely good start, and that was important for us."

Ovechkin capped off his hat trick 70 seconds later, and Fisher did the same 4:09 after that.

"There were lots of us who scored lots of goals tonight, on both teams," Ovechkin said. "It was fun, but probably more fun for us because we won."

Washington coach Bruce Boudreau was also happy with the win, and amused with the way his team earned the victory.

"A win is a win is a win." Boudreau said. "You never complain after a win. There are too many losses in which you can find faults, so I'm happy we found a way to win, in their building, with the way they came back at us.

"That says a lot for our hockey team, and now we have to be ready for them on Tuesday."