The Washington Capitals lost again. But there was one good thing to come out of their Sunday matinee against the Minnesota Wild.

Alex Ovechkin scored twice, bringing him closer to Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goals record.

Career goal no. 818

Ovechkin’s first goal, naturally, came on the power play via a one-timer from the left wing. Except Ovi was shooting from way downtown just outside the cirlce.

As the captain’s shot neared the net, the biscuit appeared to change direction (*perhaps* due to a TJ Oshie deflection), eluding Marc-Andre Fleury.

8️⃣1️⃣8️⃣ pic.twitter.com/CSy2TB5Ug8

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 19, 2023

The goal was ultimately ruled to be Ovechkin’s and it got the team on the board after falling behind 2-0.

Career goal no. 819

819 pic.twitter.com/Xg4ddqMbQz

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 19, 2023

Ovechkin scored again in the third period off a faceoff win by Dylan Strome on a power play. The shot found a hole through MAF’s arm, giving Ovi his 39th goal of the season and the 819th of his career.

Fleury has now surrendered 27 goals to Ovechkin in his career – the most of any goaltender.

Ovechkin now trails Gretzky by 75 in the goals chase, meaning Ovi would need to score only 25 goals per season through the rest of his contract to reach The Great One.

The two-goal game marked Ovechkin’s 167th career multi-goal game.

Alex Ovechkin scores his second power-play goal of the game to cut the deficit to 4-2. With two goals this afternoon, Ovechkin has recorded his 167th career multi-goal game.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 19, 2023

Ovechkin also registered a secondary assist on Dylan Strome’s late third period goal, giving him a point on every Caps marker in the game.

Alex Ovechkin was credited with the secondary assist on the Capitals' third goal. Ovechkin (2g, 1a) has now recorded three or more points in seven games this season.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 19, 2023