Alex Ovechkin helped the Washington Capitals safe a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, scoring his 888th profession purpose.
The tally put him inside attain of record-holder Wayne Gretzky, who completed his profession with 894. Ovechkin has 13 extra video games this season to interrupt the document.
Ovechkin was the first to score in the course of the recreation after a blocked shot by the Flyers resulted in Aliaksei Protas discovering the unfastened puck and passing it to Ovechkin, who fired it in with a shot that deflected off goalie Samuel Ersson’s proper pad.
Brandon Duhaime scored the second purpose in the course of the second interval, his eighth of the season, and Andrew Mangiapane scored the final point for the Capitals at 11:06. Ovechkin was fast to level out that profitable the sport wasn’t all about scoring and that Charlie Lindgren’s 27 saves as goalie had been vital.
The victory secured their playoff spot and made them the primary workforce within the NHL to attain 100 standing factors this season.
“Our purpose was to make the playoffs this yr,” Ovechkin said. “It’s onerous. Each recreation, it’s onerous, particularly on the finish as a result of each workforce is preventing. That’s why to start with of the yr and the center of the yr, it’s crucial to [be] gathering the factors and really feel comfy on the finish. Final yr, it took us 82 video games to clinch it, and since 20 video games left final yr, it was playoffs for us already. We take it and transfer on.”
Ovechkin has been the face of the Capitals for almost twenty years, and his prolific scoring in pursuit of the Gretzky document has been a subject of debate amongst many hockey followers for years.
With the document about to be damaged, each recreation acts as a countdown as anticipation builds. Will the following one be the night time he makes historical past?
