The bench cleared, mobbing Alex Ovechkin for the happiest of hockey hugs. Every player wanted to touch him, his helmet, his shoulder, his jersey, anything. Andre Burakovsky embraced him, held on and kept jumping up and down.
Ovechkin has often reacted to his teammates’ goals like they were his own, and now the Capitals were returning the favor 500-fold. For the captain who loves celebrations, the teammate known for stuffing shaving cream into the face of his teammates to celebrate the big moments and the one who reacts to every goal like it’s his first, the Washington Capitals treated Ovechkin’s 500th goal like the special occasion it was.