Ovechkin notches hat trick as Capitals dominate Oilers in first home game in two weeks

The Washington Capitals are in awe. Now atop the NHL standings, Washington’s players, coaches and fans reckoned with history on Sunday as captain Alex Ovechkin scored a hat trick in the Capitals’ 7-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers.

The fans tossed hats onto the rink to honor the 39-year-old who now trails Wayne Gretzky by just 12 goals for the all-time record. His teammates’ children were starstruck as they asked for autographs in the locker room. The coaching staff couldn’t help but smile when they discussed the honor of having a front-row seat to watch one of the greatest goal-scorers of all time. 

“You can’t write this stuff,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said Sunday after Ovechkin scored his 880th, 881st and 882nd career goals. “What he’s doing right now at 39 [years old], the goals he’s scoring, the chants — on a back-to-back when we flew last night. … It’s just incredible.”

The 18,000 fans in attendance couldn’t ask for a more prototypical Ovechkin performance in the first Capitals game at home in two weeks. “The Great Eight” scored his first goal with a vintage laser snapshot in the second period, followed by a one-timer rocket off a pass from defenseman Jakob Chychrun ten minutes later.

The fans started to get antsy after that. Every Ovechkin scoring chance — and there were plenty, as Carbery noted he “could’ve had six goals”  — raised the collective blood pressure. They wanted to see his 32nd career hat trick.

With less than four minutes remaining and the game out of hand, Edmonton pulled its goalie. 

“Seventeen thousand people in the stands were hoping they’d pull the goalie, too,” said Capitals forward Dylan Strome, who recorded a goal and two assists. “We’ll take it.”

The fans’ wish was granted as Edmonton’s Calvin Pickard skated to the bench. Ovechkin quickly slid a shot the length of the ice and into an unguarded net with less than three minutes left. 

“It was a lucky, fortunate bounce,” Strome said, admitting that he’s found himself mesmerized by Ovechkin’s shots. “But I guess when you got 882 goals, you get those bounces sometimes.”

Ovechkin took a victory lap after extending his record for empty-net goals, sharing a fist bump with his son, Sergei, as hats rained down onto the ice. 

From the other net, Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren marveled at his teammate’s accomplishments. 

“I’ve started to kind of soak it in a bit,” he said. “You can’t deny how special this is. It’s just insane to see the run he’s on, the way he’s scoring goals. I’m trying to soak it in every chance I get.”

So are the fans, who gave the Capitals a warm welcome after the two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. Ovechkin said he was too locked in to notice their “Ovi” chants, but Carbery noticed. 

“The goals he scored tonight were huge, the moments they were scored were highly competitive,” Carbery said. “You can feel it. The guys get fired up on the bench.”

Ovechkin’s ongoing run is unprecedented in the modern NHL. Sunday’s performance marked his second hat trick as a 39-year-old. The final goal on Sunday was Ovechkin’s 200th of the 2020s. He’s the only player in NHL history to record 200 goals in three different decades. 

Fans don’t need to know the history to appreciate greatness, though. Longtime Capitals defender John Carlson notched a pair of assists on Sunday, but his four children were more enamored with “The Great Eight.” One of the younger Carlsons mustered the courage to ask for an autograph. 

“Everything he does is impressive,” said forward Tom Wilson, who has played with Ovechkin since 2013. “He just finds a way. He’s the best goal-scorer of all time. Whether it’s in front of the net, on a rebound, an empty net, going end-to-end, he has so many ways to score goals.” 

Despite the praise, accolades and records, Ovechkin continues to insist that his focus is on the team. Even as Washington took the top spot in the NHL standings with Sunday’s victory, he said it’s too early to talk about the postseason. 

“We don’t look too far,” he said. “We just take it game by game.” 

The often soft-spoken Ovechkin continued to downplay what the franchise’s marketing department has branded “The Gr8 Chase.” But even he confessed that Sunday’s performance was different. 

“It means a lot,” Ovechkin told the TNT broadcast about scoring a hat trick in front of his two sons.“The kids love hockey. … It’s nice to get a win. It’s nice to get a couple goals, so yeah. I’m pretty sure they’re going to be happy.”

At this season’s pace, Ovechkin would break Gretzky’s record at home on April 4 against the Chicago Blackhawks. 

With his current form, Ovechkin’s teammates can see that path.

“I’ve never seen a guy so hungry,” longtime teammate Tom Wilson said. “Some guys score and they (think), ‘OK, I had a good night.’ He comes back to the bench; he’s asking if he can go out again, like, right away.”

After scoring 15 goals in their first two games back from the midseason All-Star break, the Capitals (38-11-8) will continue a season-long five-game homestand on Tuesday night against the Calgary Flames.