FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Capitals - Game 78

It appeared as though the Capitals answered quickly, but a successful Vegas challenge overturned the goal for offside, keeping it a 1-1 game through 20 minutes.

But perhaps the most interesting moment of the first period was when Ovechkin turned down a penalty called in his favor.

Thompson took over the crease to start the second period, and he fell victim to an Ovechkin one-timer less than three minutes in as the Capitals officially took a 2-1 lead on a 2-on-1.

Ovechkin scored his 49th of the season, becoming the oldest player to reach that milestone.

Though the Golden Knights generated more chances as the period went on, they could not break through and found themselves in desperate need of a goal heading into the final frame.

They got two. In fact, Vegas scored two goals just 49 seconds apart to erase the one-goal deficit and take a 3-2 lead at 2:54 of the final frame.

First, Evgenii Dadonov netted his 20th of the season as Samsonov surrendered another soft goal. It was a simple shot that somehow got past the young netminder, but it was another fortunate bounce the Golden Knights were happy to accept. Less than a minute later, the Golden Knights took the lead for the first time when Chandler Stephenson — former Capitals forward Chandler Stephenson — deflected a shot in the slot for a rare Vegas power-play goal.

The Golden Knights’ power play has let them down many times this season, but it came through with the season on the line. But there’s a reason Ovechkin is widely considered the greatest goal-scorer of all time, and he demonstrated it when he beat Thompson cleanly to even things up at 3-3 with 6:24 remaining in the third. The blast clocked in at 101 mph and capped off a game-high three-point night for the Capitals captain, who reached the 50-goal mark for the ninth time in his career.

But Theodore had the last word, and he made quite a statement.

It was a relatively conservative start to overtime. Still, Theodore took matters into his own hands when he deked around T.J. Oshie, carried the puck towards the net, and casually lifted a backhand shot over Samsonov for the game-winner. It was Theodore’s 14th of the season; Dadonov and William Karlsson picked up the assists.

Theodore has been a clutch overtime performer for Vegas going back to the inaugural campaign, but this was one of the prettiest goals in franchise history. More importantly, it helped the Knights pick up the all-important second point to keep their postseason chances alive.

Thompson finished the game with 13 saves on 15 shots for a .867 save percentage, but the Ovechkin goals were anything but soft, and he made several key stops down the stretch. The Golden Knights benefited from Samsonov’s porous play, but they did what they had to do to get the win, which is all that matters at this point in the season.

With some help from the Oilers, who defeated Dallas earlier Wednesday evening, Vegas now sits two points behind the Stars, who have one game in hand, and three points behind Los Angeles.