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Alex Ovechkin was held off the scoresheet for nearly 57 minutes in a 3-0 Washington Capitals win over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night — but The Great Eight found a way to do what he does best just before the final buzzer.
Ovechkin scored an empty net goal late in the third period — his 875th career National Hockey League tally — as Washington won its sixth consecutive game and eighth in the last 10. And with that, the Russian sniper is just 20 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time record.
Alex Ovechkin scores his 875th career goal, now 20 shy of surpassing Wayne Gretzky's record pic.twitter.com/VDDNEGI3lP
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) January 24, 2025
It was Ovechkin's 22nd goal of the season in just 32 games, and the 39-year-old is up to 34 points along with a plus-16 rating — good enough for sixth in team scoring.
“They don’t ask ‘How?’ they ask ‘How many?’” Capitals forward Aliaksei Protas, who scored the game-winning goal, said after the victory, per NHL.com's Darren Bown. “You’ve got to score that goal from the defensive zone. With all the accomplishments that he has, he fully deserved that.”
“That was a tougher empty-netter,” echoed head coach Spencer Carbery. “I know everybody will say, ‘empty-netter,’ but that was a little bit tougher. But good for him to seal it.”
Most NHL fans will just be happy to see Ovechkin continuing to score — whether a goalie is in the net or not — as he approaches the milestone. At his current pace, he'll score goal No. 895 on April 10 against the Carolina Hurricanes, per Brown.
It was another phenomenal performance for the Capitals, who have emerged into the NHL's premier team in 2024-25.
NHL-best Capitals just can't stop winning
Not only have the Capitals won six in a row and eight of 10, they've pushed their league-leading plus/minus to a remarkable +54. With that, Carbery's team is 33-10-5, and a full four points up on the Winnipeg Jets in the President's Trophy race — with a game in hand.
“I thought that was one of the better games that we've played in a long, long time, start to finish, in every phase,” Carbery said of Thursday's victory at Climate Pledge Arena.
It was a memorable return to the crease for Charlie Lindgren, who had been out with injury since January 10. The 31-year-old recorded his first shutout of the season, making 22 saves in the process.
“I felt really good,” Lindgren said afterwards, per Brown. “It sucks being out. I can’t even describe how much it… even though it was only two weeks, just getting back in there with the guys and being in the room again, I can’t overstate how much I love this team.”
Washington just continues to win prolifically in 2024-25, and along with Ovechkin's chase, this is shaping up to be one of the more memorable regular-seasons in the history of the franchise.
The Capitals will look to make it seven consecutive triumphs for the first time this season against the Canucks in Vancouver on Saturday night. Puck is set to drop just past 10:00 p.m. at Rogers Arena.
