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Ovechkin gets hat trick as Capitals crush Bruins

Mar 4, 2008 - 4:18 AM By Tim Hipps PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- All-Star Alex Ovechkin wasn't satisfied with just 50 goals.

Ovechkin notched his third hat trick of the season and added two assists to lead the Washington Capitals to a 10-2 drubbing of the Boston Bruins on Monday night.

Rookie Nicklas Backstrom scored a goal and set up three others and Brooks Laich tallied twice for the Capitals, who moved into 10th place in the Eastern Conference - just four points out of the final playoff spot.

"Just wait. We have lots of games left and one game can mean nothing," Ovechkin said. "We just have to continue to do what we did today and try to play the same way on Wednesday."

The loss ended the Bruins' six-game winning streak.

"I think everything went wrong today," said Bruins left wing Marco Sturm, who notched his 23rd goal of the season. "It started with a bad start. We've got to forget about this one. Points are too important, and we've got another game tomorrow night."

With his first goal of the night at 6:18 of the first period, Ovechkin became the first player to reach the 50-goal mark this season. He took an outlet pass from Backstrom for a breakaway, deked the forehand and lifted a wrist shot to the top shelf over Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas to give Washington a 2-0 edge.

"It just happens. You are going to score lots of games, and some you aren't," Ovechkin said of finally scoring No. 50. "Today, everything just went into the net. I'm very excited, very happy and think that we played a great game."

"You can't keep a guy like Alex down," Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau added. "When you get six, seven shots on goal every night, you're going to score goals, especially when your shot is as powerful as his. He was on top of his game."

Ovechkin needed just 50 more seconds to extend the Capitals' advantage to 3-0, firing a one-timer from the slot off another pass from Backstrom.

After Matt Bradley's fourth goal of the season chased Thomas at 8:29 of the first, Ovechkin completed his hat trick with a power-play blast between the pads of Alex Auld with 4:29 remaining in the period.

Reaching the milestone in just 67 games, Ovechkin is the quickest player to reach the feat since Pavel Bure did it in 63 contests during the 1999-00 campaign. He also is the first Capital to achieve the plateau since Peter Bondra notched 52 goals in 1997-98.

The 22-year-old Russian also had 52 tallies during his rookie season, joining Bondra and Dennis Maruk as the only Capitals to score 50 goals in a season twice. He also joined Bure, Dany Heatley and Jaromir Jagr as the only NHL players with two 50-goal seasons this decade.

Matt Cooke, Matt Bradley and Laich also scored in the first as the Capitals built a 6-0 advantage.

"The damage was done in the first eight minutes," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "We even talked about that before the game, how important the first 10 minutes were going to be. We definitely didn't respond to that, and the rest is history."

Cooke needed just 32 seconds to give the Capitals an early 1-0 lead with his first goal with Washington. Cooke, who was acquired Tuesday from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Matt Pettinger, now has eight goals this season.

The Bruins got on the scoreboard just 36 seconds into the middle session on Dennis Wideman's power-play tally, but Ovechkin made a long outlet pass on Backstrom's breakaway tally that gave the Capitals a 7-1 advantage at the 7:50 mark.

"We you play all season together you learn to read each other," Ovechkin said of playing with Backstrom. "Nicky sees me all the time and I think if he continues to play the same way, he will be rookie of the year. I loved setting him up for his breakaway, he really deserved the opportunity."

Enforcer Donald Brashear, who had won fights against Bruins captain Zdeno Chara and Shawn Thornton, scored his fifth goal of the season for an 8-1 lead with 3:29 left in the second.

Ovechkin picked up another assist on a power-play goal by Laich, who deflected Ovechkin's slap shot from the right point past Thomas to make it 9-2 at 2:03 of the final session.

Washington netminder Cristobal Huet made 20 saves before leaving with an injury after the second period. He was replaced by Olaf Kolzig, who stopped all four shots he faced in the third.

"Anytime anyone gets banged up you get concerned," Boudreau said of Huet's injury. "He played really good as did Olie when he made that great save in the third."

Thomas was pulled after giving up four goals in the first 8 1/2 minutes, but was put back in at the start of the second after Auld gave up two goals on six shots. Thomas, who finished with 17 saves and seven goals allowed, was replaced again in the third period by Auld.