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Alex Ovechkin up to 866 career goals after scoring hat trick against Vegas Golden Knights, now 28 away from Wayne Gretzky

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Alex Ovechkin scored his 31st career hat trick in Washington’s 5-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights, Sunday. The victory marked the Capitals’ first ever during the regular season at T-Mobile Arena.

The tallies were Ovechkin’s 864th, 865th, and 866th career goals, putting him only 28 away from Wayne Gretzky for a share of the NHL goals record. Ovechkin, at age 39, is on pace for 63 goals this season.

Ovi now has 11 goals in his last 10 games. The three goals leapfrogged Ovechkin over Connor McMichael for the team lead in goals with 13 . Ovinow is in a three-way tie for league lead.

Ovechkin’s big night came on his wife’s 31st birthday weekend. Nastya was at the game and was is in Vegas with Ovi celebrating with her girlfriends.

Career goal no. 864

Ovechkin’s first goal came 5:59 into the first period to put the Capitals up 1-0. Looking for a player in front of the net, Ovechkin’s pass instead deflected off All-Star defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and into the net past Samsonov. The tally marked his 315th career power-play goal — the most of all time.

“I tried to find Willy there and obviously it was a lucky bounce, but you know, we’ll take it and move on,” Ovechkin said at intermission to Monumental Sports Network’s Al Koken. “How I said, we just have to — all the time when we have a power play, we just have to use our skill or mine to find the right place.”

The goal was assisted by Dylan Strome, marking the 11th straight Ovechkin goal Stome had assisted on.

Career goal no. 865

Late in the second period, Ovechkin struck again — this time on a two-on-one break with Matt Roy. Samsonov yelled out to Pietrangelo to guard Roy so he could stop Ovechkin’s shot. He did not stop Ovechkin’s shot.

The goal gave the Capitals a 4-2 lead heading into the second intermission. Only Matt Roy got an assist finally ending Strome’s season-long streak.

Career goal no. 866

Ovechkin hit the back of the net after a hustle play along the boards by Aliaksei Protas. He then drove to the net and angled the puck over the goal line.

The players jumped together in the goal hug.

Nastya posted a video of the hats being thrown to the ice after Ovi scored.

The two goals against Samsonov were the first Ovechkin has scored against the Russian netminder, making Sammy the 177th different goaltender the Capitals captain has scored against. That ties Ovi with Patrick Marleau for the second-most of all time.

Per Capitals PR, the three-goal night was Ovechkin’s third multi-goal game of the season and the 176th of his career. Only Wayne Gretzky (189) has more multi-goal games in NHL history.

Not only did Ovi score the hat trick, he also saved a goal in the second period, hustling back on defense and lifting Ivan Barbashev’s stick just enough to send the puck wide.

“He’s a competitive player, he’s a competitive person,” Jakub Vrana said of Ovechkin. “He goes out there, he wants to win every game. He wants to win every battle… Not much has changed.”

After the game, the Capitals locker room erupted for Ovechkin when Spencer Carbery gave him props for his huge night.

“I love that guy,” Logan Thompson added. “I’m so happy to be his teammate and he deserves everything he’s getting right now and I’m happy for the performance he put up tonight and just love being around him.”

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