COLUMBUS—Alex Ovechkin scored two goals in the second period, and the Caps eliminated the Blue Jackets with a 6-3 victory in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals Monday night.
Washington, which closed out the series with four straight victories, will now face Sidney Crosby and Pittsburgh in the semifinals for the third straight spring and the fourth time since 2009.
Tarik’s three stars of the game:
1-Alex Ovechkin, Capitals
The Caps’ captain scored the 50th and 51st playoff goals of his career in the middle frame to put the visitors in command, 3-1. His first goal came on a rebound at the top of the blue paint.
The second came in a much more familiar fashion: on the power play from the Ovi Office.
2-Devante Smith-Pelly, Capitals
DSP was signed, in part, due to his reputation of coming up big in the playoffs. And he did it again in the third period, scoring an unassisted goal with a rip over Sergei Bobrovsky’s glove to put the Caps ahead 4-2…a couple of shifts after Pierre-Luc Dubois had trimmed Washington’s lead to 3-2.
The tally was Smith-Pelly’s second this postseason.
3-Dmitry Orlov, Capitals
Orlov scored a goal scorer’s goal in the first period. At the point, the Dman dragged the puck around a hard-charging Artemi Panarin before rifling a slap shot past Bobrovsky, who also happens to be Orlov’s best friend off the ice.
The goal was the first ever playoff tally for Orlov.
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