Alex Ovechkin scored his 50th goal of the season against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday. In doing so, he tied Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy for the most 50-goal seasons in a career with nine.

A feat that special and a player this special garners respect that crosses locker rooms. That was on display as the Golden Knights met with the media after their 4-3 overtime victory over the Capitals.

“I’m going to say to my grandchildren that I played against a legend. It’s pretty cool,” Vegas forward William Karlsson told The Athletic’s Jesse Granger postgame. “He’s going to be in the Hall of Fame, and maybe he’ll break the record for the most goals ever. It’s pretty cool, for sure.”

Ovechkin scored both of his goals in the game against Golden Knights goaltender, Logan Thompson. His first was his first-ever against Thompson, making him the 160th goaltender Ovi has scored on in his career. He trails just Jaromir Jagr (178), Patrick Marleau (177), and Mark Messier (164) on that all-time list.

“He’s okay, he’s okay,” Thompson joked with reporters when asked what his first look at The Great Eight was like. Thompson’s partner for the press conference was defenseman Alec Martinez who was also victimized by Ovi as he was on the ice for both number 49 and number 50.

“He’s one of the most incredible talents probably of all time,” Martinez said. “Like LT said, ‘he’s okay.’ He’s a generational player. What he’s done on the ice is incredible, a guy like that really grows the game, gets people involved. People want to obviously come watch him play. Honestly, it’s an honor to play against him and try to shut him down. Obviously, he’s a pretty good player so it’s tough. What else can you say? He’s a generational talent. How many goals does he have now? A million? Pretty cool to see.”

Vegas head coach Pete DeBoer has spent his entire NHL head coaching career with Ovechkin in the league, including three seasons of direct competition against him as the coach of the Florida Panthers in the Southeast Division (2008-2011) and another two with the New Jersey Devils in the Metropolitan Division (2013-2015).

“How good is Ovechkin?” DeBoer remarked. “It’s unbelievable. Two tonight and he could’ve had another two. He looks like he’s 25-years-old out there. He’s so dangerous and as soon as they got behind by one he started really looking for those openings behind us, and he found it a couple times. They’re a tough team to defend, obviously because of him.”

Ovechkin now has five career goals against Vegas in eight games and that does not include the three he scored in five Stanley Cup Final games back in 2018.

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB