Alex the Great Lights Up Hockey Night in Canada!

Jan 24

Written By Thom

By Rodger M. WoodScoring three goals in a Caps 4-1 win, unselfishly blocking opponent shots in front of a young goalie, and crushing opposing skaters with body checks all over the ice, Alex O played last night in Toronto like he was on a mission to show fans on Hockey Night in Canada that he was still the great one.Assisted by Nikolas Backstrom and Jeff Schultz, he opened up scoring at the 14:27 mark of the first period, at 1:12 of the third period, assisted by Green and Chimera, he scored the Caps game winner, and at the end of the third period he scored an empty netter to make the final score 4-1.Between Alex O’s goals, Matt Hendricks scored a nice breakaway goal, his 6th of the season.Sharing the limelight with Ovi in his second start in a row and tenth NHL game of his career, rookie goalie Braden Holtby put on a spectacular show stopping 35 shots, many of which were serious Leaf scoring threats.Caps defensemen, Mike Green, Scott Hannan, Jeff Schultz, John Erskine, Karl Alzner, and John Carlson helped young Holtby with a stingy aggressive defense, which blocked double digit shots and forced Maple Leaf snipers to shoot from the perimeter.This past week the Caps gained five of six points in road games against the Flyers, Islanders, and Leafs to stay a point behind first place Southeast Division Tampa Bay and 7 ahead of 3rd place Atlanta.Caps forwards Boyd Gordon and DJ King are back on the ice, but Alexander Semin, Matt Bradley, and Tom Poti are on the sideline.The Caps play at home today against the New York Rangers.