Alex Ovechkin hit another major goal milestone, and he got another beer bath, too.
Once he completed his postgame interviews with Monumental Sports Network and TNT out on the bench, Ovechkin walked back into the bowels of Capital One Arena and entered the Capitals locker room. It was there he instantly received a beer — politely handed to him — from rookie Ryan Leonard.
Then, out of nowhere, John Carlson blitzed Ovechkin the other side of the room, dousing him with two full cans of Stella Artois. Leonard and assistant coach Kirk Muller got caught in the crossfire.
The Stella Artois, Ovechkin’s beer of choice, matched the cans he was doused with after tying Gretzky’s record last April. (For the record-breaking goal on Long Island, the Caps used Coors Light.)
Smiling and laughing, Ovechkin thanked Carlson for his greeting and then walked around the locker room, giving fist bumps to his teammates. As he made it to his locker stall, he hugged Capitals owner Ted Leonsis.
“You ever score a goal like that,” Leonsis asked Ovechkin. “Backhand on the side?”
“Yeah,” Ovechkin said before adding, “actually in practice on LT.”
When teammates asked Ovechkin for a speech, he wasn’t sure what to say.
“Let’s go to Pittsburgh,” he replied.
That suggestion was apparently good enough.
“YEAH!!!” the locker room erupted.
Spencer Carbery then went into his postgame speech, saluting Logan Thompson in his “statement game,” but “The night belongs to this man! 900 goals in the National Hockey League!!!”
Carbery hugged Ovechkin and then the Capitals demanded another speech.
“Well, Stromer, It sucks you’re not…” Ovechkin said.
“No apple,” Strome replied.
“901 maybe?” Ovechkin asked.
“Maybe,” Strome considered.
“Tomorrow?” Ovechkin suggested. “Yeah, let’s go!”
Once he’d rinsed off the beer, Ovi conducted a four-minute interview with Capitals media.
Two special guests were sitting with reporters: Ovi’s two sons, Sergei and Ilya.
He then lifted them up and gave them a hug, walking out of the arena with a new distinction: the only hockey player ever to score 900 goals.
