That puts Ovechkin on pace for 41 tallies on the season, meaning he would be tied with Gretzky after it. He is going to get there, and he’s going to get there within the next 74 games.
Hockey is a team game first and foremost, but the closer the record creeps into sight, the more Ovechkin’s chase becomes the primary narrative — as it should be. It’s the most significant statistical record in the NHL, a record that has stood for decades and was once believed to be unbreakable.
Ovechkin has also built his legacy in an era with significantly stronger goaltending while losing what amounts to nearly two full seasons of his career because of lockouts and COVID-19.
Naturally, he is playing with some extra motivation and likely will be until he achieves the historic milestone. The two goals Ovechkin scored on Tuesday weren’t of the stat-padding, empty-netter variety or by repeatedly spamming one-timers on the power play — they were grit-and-grind things of beauty that he and his teammates earned by simply outworking their competition at even strength.
That will be the most important component in regards to Ovechkin’s chase: the fact that thus far this season, the Capitals are generating more scoring opportunities as a team than they have in several years. Per MoneyPuck.com, the Caps currently rank second in the NHL with a 58.41 percent share of expected goals at five-on-five play this season. The past two seasons, they were in the bottom half of the league at below 50 percent.
Some shuffling in Washington’s lineup also appears to be helping the Great Eight. Ovechkin was moved from the left to the right wing several games into the season, with Aliaksei Protas moving up to the top line opposite him as Dylan Strome remains in the middle.
Strome’s emergence into a true first-line-caliber centerman (he currently has 11 points in eight games) has allowed the Caps to routinely control play with Ovechkin on the ice, and Protas has leaped in production. After only earning 29 points in 78 games a season ago, he’s already at seven in eight contests thus far.
The Capitals, in general, have a resurgent roster around the 39-year-old Ovechkin, one that seems like it will have legitimate hopes of making a deep playoff run next spring. The prospect of making NHL history will keep Washington’s iconic superstar as motivated as ever, and as his teammates empower him with opportunities, don’t be surprised if he does exactly that at some point next March or April.
