Alex Ovechkin scoring to hand the Nashville Predators another defeat and keep his Washington Capitals rolling was not surprising to the folks on the other side who have seen him a lot over the years.
"You knew it was coming," said Predators coach Andrew Brunette, whose final seven seasons as a player overlapped with Ovechkin's first seven in the NHL. "You're on the bench and I guess I've seen him too many times. I've played against him, I've coached against him, I've watched him and he just finds that and when it's on his stick it's gone.
"That's a big-time shot from obviously arguably the greatest goal-scorer of all time."
Ovechkin is now six away from breaking Jaromir Jagr's record for the most career game-winning goals. His 130th helped the Capitals improve to 9-3-0 this season and sent the Predators to their ninth loss in 13 games.
"It stinks that he scored against us tonight and got the game-winner, but a guy that is still producing at this age is impressive," said Predators forward Steven Stamkos, who played his first 16 years in the league with Tampa Bay. "To keep doing it at this age is very impressive."
