Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin is on the brink of hockey immortality, but he’s still a team-first guy.
Ovi, who needs just nine more goals to break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record, didn’t score in Tuesday’s 7-4 victory over the Anaheim Ducks, but his selfless play was on full display late in the third period.
With the Capitals up 6-4 and the Ducks sending an extra player out with only minutes left in the final frame, Ovi had a clear opportunity to tally goal No. 887 into the empty net. Instead, he passed the puck to Aliaksei Protas to help him complete his first career hat trick:
That play truly goes to show just how special of a teammate Alex Ovechkin is. While he’s surely thinking about the record, Ovi knew in the moment that it didn’t matter. He wanted to do his part in helping Protas reach a special mark in his young career as well.
Washington is having a very impressive campaign, sitting in first place in the Metropolitan Division with a 43-14-8 record. Ovechkin is still putting up huge numbers despite missing time this season through injury. He’s netted 33 goals and tallied 20 assists in 49 games played in 2024-25.
There’s little doubt that Ovi will surpass Gretzky and become the NHL’s all-time leading scorer and at this rate, it will likely happen before the regular season concludes. Gretzky himself knows that his record will eventually be in the past:
“It’s just a matter of time, whether it’s late this year, early next year, whenever,” Gretzky told NHL.com earlier this season about Ovechkin’s chances of breaking his record. “I mean, he’s a great player. He’s a great goal scorer.”
Although Alex Ovechkin didn’t find the back of the net in Tuesday’s contest, he still supplied three assists. In six games so far in March, the Russian legend has three goals.
The race for 895 continues.
