The Washington Capitals picked up a 5-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night as Alex Ovechkin scored twice to tie Wayne Gretzky's record of 894 career goals, the most goals in NHL history.
How it all went down
Ovechkin struck first 3:52 into the contest to get Capital One Arena rocking with Gretzky himself in the building. Dylan Strome and John Carlson had the helpers with their 50th and 43rd, respectively and it was Ovechkin's 40th of the season as the victim goalie was none other than Spencer Knight.
At 13:55 Tyler Bertuzzi tied it. 1-1 would be the score after one with shots even at 10 apiece. Earlier in the day the Caps recalled Hunter Shepard with goaltender Logan Thompson missing some time with an upper body injury. Charlie Lindgren got the net.
31 seconds into the second Frank Nazar gave Chicago the lead. Martin Fehervary tied it at 7:09 with his fifth goal of the season. Connor McMichael had the primary assist for his 30th while Carlson added his 44th.
At 7:19 Philipp Kurashev gave the Blackhawks the 3-2 lead. In the third period on the power play the Blackhawks got an own goal but was credited to Strome for his 25th of the season. That came at 3:46.
Then Ovechkin struck at 6:13 as his teammates mobbed him. It was his 41st of the season and 894th of his career. He now needs one to pass Gretzky for the most goals all time.
Carlson had the primary for his 45th helper on the season while Andrew Mangiapane picked up his 13th. At 18:24 Ryan Leonard would put the game away with an empty net goal for his first career NHL goal.
Caps led in shots 9-7 in the second period and 10-5 in the third to lead 29-22 overall. Lindgren picked up 19 saves in the winning effort for an .864 save percentage. His record is now 18-12-3.
"Wayne texted me before the game. He said score three. Yeah, it's a special moment. It's great for hockey. It's great for D.C. It's great for all our fans to do it here in Washington. It's fun. It's fun. It's always a pleasure to be in that category with those names. "Alex Ovechkin
Ovechkin's 894th goal was his 136th career game winning goal which broke a tie with Jaromir Jagr for the most in NHL history. 41 goals in 60 games including 19 in his last 26 games. That stretch also includes an incredible week where he had five goals in the last four games.
Tom Wilson added, "He's scored some huge goals for us. Everyone is so focused on the record, but he's playing amazing hockey and he's a legend. So, he's able to just continue to score huge goals fo this team and he's stepping up and he's been a huge part of the success of our team this year. He's our captain. He's our leader. He's playing amazing hockey."
Ovechkin has a chance to break the record this Sunday when the Capitals take on the New York Islanders at UBS Arena.