Ovechkin shot the puck so hard, he broke Lehner's mask originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Capitals may have been shut out Monday by Robin Lehner and the Vegas Golden Knights, but they made the netminder earn it. Washington fired 34 shots on net and Alex Ovechkin ripped a blistering shot up high that was so hard, it actually broke Lehner's goalie cage.
"Ovechkin kind of broke my helmet, so I had to change it," Lehner said when asked about changing his mask.
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As has been a theme of late, the Caps had plenty of power-play time and generated lots of opportunities. The power play is still built around trying to feed Ovechkin and, when you give him time to tee one up, boy he can really blast one.
One shot caught Lehner up high which led to a scary moment for the netminder.
If you're a regular viewer of the sport, you may be thinking, what's the big deal? There are lots of instances where a shot catches a goalie in the mask and you see one of the back straps fly off from the force. Typically you see the goalie then snap his head to get the mask off and try to force a stoppage in play for a repair.
That's not what this was.
Ovechkin's shot actually broke the mask itself and Lehner could feel it.
"It was a really hard shot to take in the head," Lehner said. "He broke my cage. It was a little scary. You felt the cage kind of bent into the cheekbone a little bit."
Ovechkin had four shots on goal Monday against Lehner and Lehner was able to stop all of them, but that one to the mask may be one that sticks with him for a while.
Said Lehner, "I was lucky it wasn't a little bit harder."
