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Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin now stands side-by-side with Wayne Gretzky after scoring his 893rd and 894th NHL goals on Friday night against the Chicago Blackhawks — but former teammate TJ Oshie, who was in the building, missed the record-tying tally.
Oshie was actually looking for the The Great One when The Great Eight scored his second goal of the game close to midway through the third period.
“Yeah, I was walking right here, actually, and we heard the roars,” Oshie told Monumental Sports Network's Tarik El-Bashir inside Capital One Arena. “Obviously Wayne's in the building, so a couple of us wanted to head over to [Capitals owner Ted Leonsis'] suite and say, ‘Hi.' We were like, ‘All right, let's sneak down there real quick, the power play just ended.'
“We heard the roars, and we were like, ‘No, no way.' We were like, ‘Who scored?' And they're like, ‘The TV's delayed, I don't know!' So we ran over and saw it. I cannot believe we missed it. But in the building. We were here.”
Oshie was in attendance for the historic night, being honored alongside Nicklas Backstrom, Braden Holtby, Brooks Orpik, and Devante Smith-Pelly. The five were given a warm welcome from the sold out crowd as part of the franchise's fifth era (2014-present).
All five of those players were key pieces of the 2018 Stanley Cup run, along with Ovechkin, who gave each of them a big hug during the pregame ceremony.
Oshie has assisted on 48 of Ovechkin's 894 career goals. He remains on Washington's roster, but hasn't played all season as he continues to deal with a chronic back injury.
“As (his) teammate, you see him passing all these greats, legends of our game, right?” he told El-Bashir. “When you're in it, you're like, ‘Oh, let's go, congrats!' You crack a beer and celebrate, but then you go on to the next game, right? You're trying to accomplish something, you're trying to win the Stanley Cup.
“Now, when I'm not playing and watching from afar, you really step back and you're like, ‘Gosh, that's a lot of goals.' That's a huge number. To stay healthy enough to even get there – a man speaking from experience – that's hard to do in itself. It was amazing for me and my family to be here tonight.”
Capitals' Alex Ovechkin eyeing history on Sunday afternoon
Ovechkin scored his first goal of the game against the Hawks mere minutes in, taking a slick feed from Dylan Strome and roofing it on goaltender Spencer Knight.
His second — the one Oshie missed — came from his office on the powerplay in the third period, which held up as the game winner. Although the Capitals led 4-3 late, Ovechkin told head coach Spencer Carbery he didn't want to break the record into an empty net. Washington would go on to win 5-3.
It's been an incredible season for Ovechkin, who broke his leg and missed 16 games, yet still sits third in NHL goals in 2024-25 with 41 in just 60 games.
Tickets for Sunday's game at UBS Arena between the Caps and New York Islanders continue to increase, and hockey fans worldwide will be tuning in to see if the 39-year-old can score No. 895.
If it doesn't happen, Ovechkin will have five regular-season games left to break the record in 2024-25. But knowing The Great Eight, history will very likely be made on Sunday in Long Island.
