#1 Alex Ovechkin
The GR8 Chase continues as Alex Ovechkin notched his 32nd career hat trick the other day against the Oilers, tying him with Phil Esposito for the fifth most in NHL history. He also netted his 135th career game winning goal, tying him with Jaromir Jagr for the most in NHL history. He is now 13 goals shy of passing Wayne Gretzky for the most NHL goals of all time.
This season, Ovechkin has scored 29 goals in 41 games which is a clip of 0.71 goals per games played. He entered the season 42 goals shy of passing Gretzky and is on pace to score 46 goals this season. He has scored 42 goals in 13 of his 19 NHL seasons. With his hat trick he became the first player in NHL history to score 200 plus goals in three different decades (200 goals in the 2020s, 437 goals in the 2010s, and 245 goals in the 2000s).
At 39 years old, Ovechkin ranks seventh in the NHL in goals despite missing 16 games due to injury. Every player ranked ahead of Ovechkin in goals is 31 or younger. He is just one goal shy of his 19th 30 goal season. He passed Mike Gartner's mark for the most 30 goal seasons in NHL history (17) in 2023-24.
Once Ovechkin reaches that number he will become the fourth different player in NHL history to score 30 goals at age 39 or older, joining Gordie Howe, Jonny Bucyk, and Teemu Selanne.
It seems like every game Ovechkin is approaching a new milestone and we all know the 13 is the very big one that's going to rock the entire hockey world. But if he has a multi point game tonight in additon to scoring a goal, he could very well reach 1,600 points as he enters tonight's contest just four points shy.
Once again puck drop for tonight's game is at 7 p.m. on Monumental Sports Network as well as 106.7 The Fan and Caps Radio 24/7.