WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin claims to dislike games that start early. His performance on the ice the past two contests tells a different story.
Ovechkin scored three goals for his seventh career hat trick and second of the season to lead the Capitals to a 7-4 win over the Senators on Sunday.
It was the second consecutive day the Capitals had a 12:30 p.m. start. On Saturday, Ovechkin said he felt “sleepy” early in the game, but woke up with two goals in the third period. He had no problems getting going Sunday, picking up his three goals in the first two periods.
Asked after the game if he liked the early game time, he had a simple answer.
“No,” Ovechkin said.
Saturday night, Ovechkin went to bed at about 8 p.m. and woke up at 6:30 a.m. to get to the arena for Sunday’s game. Even though he’s not a fan of the earlier routine, the early wake-up call clearly had him feeling fresh right from the start.
“I kind of feel pretty good today,” he said.
Ovechkin’s hat trick extended his NHL-leading total to 36 goals this season. He has scored at least two goals four times in the last seven games, and now has 199 career goals in his fourth NHL season.
He completed the hat trick with 4:29 left in the second period when he took a pass from Sergei Fedorov at the blue line. Ovechkin skated in and put a shot through defenseman Filip Kuba’s legs — the second time he’d gone through Kuba’s legs for a score — and past goaltender Alex Auld.
