Alex Ovechkin scored his third goal of the game against Nashville on Saturday and naturally, the fans threw their hats onto the ice.
Only, it wasn’t a hat-trick. It was a shootout goal, which doesn’t count toward players’ goal stats.
“I don’t think it’s ever been done in the history of hockey. That’s a Washington original,” Coach Bruce Boudreau said in the press conference, as the journalists erupted in laughter. Play was halted for a few minutes to clean up the hats. “Find out if anyone has ever thrown hats for a goal that doesn’t count as a hat-trick,” Boudreau said. (Incidentally, the Associated Press used Boudeau’s answer to CapitalsOutsider’s question for its game story.)
Ovechkin, who leads the league in scoring, hasn’t recorded a hat-trick this season, but has four multiple goal games.
