Tom Wilson is considered a unicorn because of how he's able to single-handedly change a hockey game. That was evident against the Utah Mammoth on Thursday. Wilson's physicality and response to a high hit and unfortunate call that could've deflated D.C. helped drag the Capitals into the fight, and offense from Alex Ovechkin, Anthony Beauvillier and Ivan Miroshnichenko powered the Capitals to a 7-4 comeback win over the Mammoth. Here are the takeaways TOM WILSON, CAPITALS RESPOND TO MATT ROY HIT IN STRIDE TO TILT ICE BACK IN THEIR FAVOR After Ivan Miroshnichenko opened the scoring in the first period, the Mammoth took control back in the first, as Dylan Guenther's two goals put Utah in front as Washington found itself on its heels. Then, with just under two minutes to go, Matt Roy was handling the puck by the boards when Brandon Tanev strode right for the blueliner, leaving his feet to staple Roy along the boards. Roy went head-first into the boards and was left in a bit of a daze, and Washington responded right away, with both Tom Wilson and Trevor van Riemsdyk dropping the gloves and going after Tanev. Wilson ended up receiving four minutes for roughing, and Tanev got just two minutes for boarding while both were also handed 10-minute misconducts. Logan Cooley scored on the resulting power play, and the Capitals were left trailing 3-1 at the end of the first. However, Washington refused to quit and give up, and instead, the hit fueled a comeback effort as D.C. tilted the ice and showed some grit and fight back. Brandon Duhaime also further invigorated his team, fighting Tanev, and coming out on top, to stick up for Roy with Wilson still in the box. When Wilson got out, he was on a rampage, and a big hit on Jack McBain to close out the second also injected some life into the Capitals bench. Wilson later answered the bell against Lawson Crouse, who instigated, to start the third and draw a power play, where Anthony Beauvillier scored to give D.C. the lead. Ultimately, that hit was one that worked in the Capitals' favor, and Wilson, totalling 21 penalty minutes on the night, ultimately took away Utah's focus and helped pave the way for Washington to pick up two pig points. ALEX OVECHKIN STAYS HOT TO SPARK OFFENSE, NETS 34TH CAREER HAT TRICK Alex Ovechkin wasn't done scoring after picking up his 1,000th combined NHL goal back on Sunday, and was back on the board at a vital time in Utah with two goals in the second. Ovechkin got to the front and redirected a pass from Rasmus Sandin past Vitek Vanecek to make it a 3-2 game. It marked his first goal ever on Vanecek. Minutes later, after some good sustained pressure from the top line, Dylan Strome alternated with Jakob Chychrun, who set up a screen in front, before feeding Ovechkin from point position for a vintage wrister that evened the score. It was his two-goal second that not only tied the game, but set the offense up for success going into the third and brought the team back to life. Then, with justover five seconds left after heroics from Logan Thompson to fend off a late Mammoth rally, Ovechkin buried an empty netter for his 34th career hat trick, moving him past Brett Hull for the fourth-most hat tricks in league history. Ovechkin now has scored goals in three of his last five games, with five goals over that span. He is one goal away from his 20th 30-goal season, and is also 13 goals away from tying Wayne Gretzky for the most combined goals between regular season and playoffs in NHL history (1,016). 21 Years Later, Alex Ovechkin Still A Kid At Heart Who Just Loves Hockey: 'You Never Know When It's Gonna Be The End' [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/c4aac2fb-92d2-47a7-9812-f472a6cd60fd.jpeg] 21 Years Later, Alex Ovechkin Still A Kid At Heart Who Just Loves Hockey: 'You Never Know When It's Gonna Be The End' At 40 years old, the Capitals captain is still having fun and loving the game just as he did when he entered the league back in 2005. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/players/21-years-later-alex-ovechkin-still-a-kid-at-heart-who-just-loves-hockey-you-never-know-when-it-s-gonna-be-the-end] BEAUVILLIER HELPS CAP OFF COMEBACK IN PRODUCTIVE THIRD AS MIROSHNICHENKO RECORDS FIRST CAREER MULTI-GOAL GAME The Capitals' power play didn't have a lot of momentum to start against the Mammoth, having gone 0-for-2 while seeing the Mammoth pick up a couple of nice shorthanded looks. Finally, to open the third, Cole Hutson and Anthony Beauvillier got the power play on the board. Hutson got the puck at point position and fired one on net, where Beauvillier, screeing in front, tipped it past Vitek Vanecek to end a 14-game goal drought. Beauvillier wasn't done there, though; minutes later, he took matters into his own hands and drove to the net, luring Vanecek out of his crease before wrapping the puck to the middle. From there, Rasmus Sandin fired home the rebound to make it 5-3. After MacKenzie Weegar pulled Utah within one roughly halfway through the third, Ivan Miroshnichenko drove to the net, and his feed across to Hendrix Lapierre dribbled off a defender and past Vanecek to restore the two-goal lead. It marked Mirohsnichenko's first career multi-goal game, just 183 away from matching Ovechkin's now 184.
