Capitals' Orlov scores brutal own goal (Video)

When it comes to own goals, they don’t come much worse than the one Dmitry Orlov was responsible for Wednesday night.

The Capitals were down 1-0 in the second period when Orlov redirected the puck past Braden Holtby while attempting to break up a cross-ice pass with his skate.

It’s not just the timing of the goal that was bad, but how unnecessary the play was in the first place. It wasn’t Steve Smith bad, but it also wasn’t your typical bang-bang play where the puck banks in off a helpless defenseman.

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For starters, the Capitals were fully in control with four players back, so somebody probably should have picked up Carter Rowney who was streaking towards the net.

Although Jake Guentzel made a smart play to put the puck in a dangerous area, it likely wouldn’t have ended up in the net if Orlov just used his stick to break it up or tied up Rowney in front.

Fortunately for Orlov, the goal didn’t end up costing the Capitals as they answered with two goals a minute apart shortly after to tie the game 2-2. But still, you can’t afford a blunder like that when you’re trailing the game and the series.

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It’s just further proof that the hockey gods don’t exist, because if they did it would have gone in off Matt Niskanen instead.