Ovechkin gets goal to go before Capitals return home

SAN JOSE – Alex Ovechkin wasn’t going to return to Washington without moving at least one goal closer to Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record.

Ovechkin capped the Washington Capitals’ three-game road trip by scoring their final goal in a 5-1 victory against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday. It was the 887th of his career, moving him within eight of eclipsing Gretzky’s total of 894.

The Capitals head home to open a three-game homestand against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; FDSNDET, MNMT, SN360, TVAS) with 15 games remaining for Ovechkin to break the record this season. That seems to be the only remaining drama in Ovechkin’s chase of history – whether he’ll break the record this season.

“We’ll see,” Ovechkin said.

Ovechkin had four assists on the trip, including a feed to set up Dylan Strome’s goal that opened the scoring at 7:33 of the first period Saturday. But it appeared the 39-year-old left wing was going to be held without a goal for the third straight game, which would’ve equaled his longest drought of the season, until he scored to increase Washington’s lead to 5-1 at 10:54 of the third period.

Ovechkin went to the front of the net to redirect defenseman Martin Fehervary’s shot-pass from the top of the left circle in off the bottom of goalie Georgi Romanov’s left arm for his 34th goal of the season.

“Yeah, great shot,” Ovechkin said of Fehervary’s pass. “I got a tip, and it went in.”

Ovechkin’s 887th came in same the building in which Gretzky scored his 800th and 801st goals on March 20, 1994 with the Los Angeles Kings against San Jose to tie Gordie Howe’s previous NHL record. Gretzky broke the record by scoring his 802nd in the Kings’ next game against the Vancouver Canucks on March 23, 1994.

The crowd of 17,435, including a vocal contingent of Capitals fans, erupted in cheers when they saw the puck drop over the goal line behind Romanov, recognizing they’d witnessed Ovechkin moving one step closer to history.

“It’s great,” Ovechkin said. “Lots of people right now watching. Obviously, lots of attention. So, yeah, it’s pretty cool.”

Romanov, a 25-year-old rookie who replaced Alexandar Georgiev with the Sharks trailing 3-0 after the first period, became the 182nd different goalie that Ovechkin has scored against, increasing his NHL record total. Another notch in Ovechkin’s belt along the way.

“'Ovi' is 'Ovi,'” Sharks forward Tyler Toffoli said. “… He's obviously incredible, one of the best ever to do it. He's not far off from breaking that record.”

As easy as Ovechkin sometimes makes goal scoring look, he appeared to be pressing for much of the game. After being held without a shot on goal in the Capitals’ 3-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday – the first time he went shotless since their season opener against the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 12 – Ovechkin entered the third period Saturday with two shots on goal.

Then, he lost the puck to Toffoli along the right-wing boards in the defensive zone, leading to Macklin Celebrini’s goal that cut the Sharks’ deficit to 3-1 at 6:19 of third. Ovechkin answered a postgame question about how the Capitals bounced back from their loss to the Kings to express his regret that his mishandle potentially cost goalie Logan Thompson (19 saves) a shutout.

“Yeah, it was a tough bounce, obviously,” Ovechkin said. “I think 'LT' today was phenomenal. It [stinks]. He made some unbelievable saves and bad bounce.”

The Capitals answered quickly, though, with defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk slipping a sharp-angle shot from the right side between Romanov and the right post at 6:59. That was van Riemsdyk’s first goal since March 9, 2023, ending the longest active scoring drought in the NHL at 145 games.

“I definitely understand how hard it is to score,” van Riemsdyk said. “To see ‘O’ keep doing this every night, it seems like he’s right there. He’s a huge part of our success this year.”

Still, there seemed to be some relief on Ovechkin’s face after his redirection went in. His lone goal in the previous four games was an empty-netter in a 4-2 victory against the Seattle Kraken last Sunday.

“Hopefully, that helps him because you could feel he was gripping it a little bit,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “Power play has been struggling. He hasn’t been getting as many quality looks with his line. You could feel even [being] on ice for the [Sharks] goal. So, for him to get than get that goal, hopefully, that’s a good boost for him and grabs him some momentum heading back home and feeling good about his game going into our home games this week.”

Ovechkin’s goals-per-game rate of 0.67 this season (34 goals in 51 games) puts him on pace to score his 895th goal at the Columbus Blue Jackets on April 12. His career average of 0.60 goals per game would set him up to score the record-breaker at the New York Islanders in the Capitals penultimate regular-season game on April 15.

“He’s been passing to me too much,” Strome said. “We’ve got to give him the puck more. He’s doing all the little things right and nice for [Fehervary] to find him in the slot there, and you could just see the crowd. Not much left to say at this point. I think just, hopefully, he can get a couple on this homestand here and inch closer and closer.

“We’re all excited, obviously, and it’s pretty cool.”