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Evander Kane's last-second goal epitomizes wild Capitals-Sharks clash


A game of professional hockey that doesn’t require overtime is 60 minutes long. Mathematically, that’s 3,600 seconds. On Tuesday night in Washington, the San Jose Sharks needed every single one of them.

With the Capitals up 6-5 late in the third (we’re talkin’ very, very late here), Evander Kane came through with a clutch tally for the Sharks with literally one second to spare.

The 27-year-old’s second of the night and 21st of the season sent the game to overtime.

During bonus hockey, the Capitals had a number of early chances to redeem themselves; however, it was the Sharks that were able to capitalize (pun fully intended) on an opportunity first.

Tomas Hertl’s final tally put a bow on his hat trick and an epic comeback by San Jose. Talk about a tough pill for the Capitals to swallow, as the result is even worse when you consider they’re now 0-4-2 in their last six.

Hertl wasn’t the only one to score three in this crazy contest, though, as Washington’s Alex Ovechkin also netted a trick of his own to extend his lead in the NHL’s goal-scoring race. Ovi now has 36 tallies on the season, 643 in his career and sits alone in 14th place on the NHL’s all-time regular season goal-scoring list after entering Tuesday’s contest tied with Dave Andreychuk.

Ovechkin and Hertl’s strong performances marked the first time that players on opposing teams recorded hat tricks in the same game in nearly three years. Evgeni Malkin and Jannik Hansen were the last to do it in a game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vancouver Canucks in January of 2016.

More interesting than that, though, is the streak that Hertl’s OT tally broke. Before Tuesday night, the Capitals had never lost a game that Ovechkin scored a hat trick in, according to Darin Stephens.

They’re now 22-0-1 when the Great No. 8 bulges the twine thrice.

(Getty)
(Getty)

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