You likely won't find a better way to open up the 2017-18 hockey season than this.
Washington winger Alex Ovechkin found the back of the net three times in the third period Thursday night in the Capitals' season opener against Ottawa, recording his 18th career hat trick.
Ovechkin scored his first 4:15 into the third period, bringing the Capitals back within one.
He struck again just 83 seconds later off a beautiful set up from Evgeny Kuznetsov to tie the game.
Ottawa forward Mark Stone scored about a minute later to give the Senators the lead once again.
Nearly 11 minutes in to the period, though, Ovechkin stole the puck in the offensive zone and fired it into the net to complete the hat trick. The goal tied the game up at 4-4 and forced overtime.
The Capitals won the game 5-4 in a shootout, thanks to a pair of goals from Ovechkin and Kuznetsov.