Kucherov ‘very proud’ of Ovechkin passing Gretzky, breaking NHL goals record

NEW YORK -- As Alex Ovechkin kept scoring in the past two weeks to get closer and closer to the NHL goals record he set Sunday with No. 895, Nikita Kucherov kept thinking of Michael Jordan and how he was portrayed in "The Last Dance."

"From watching 'M.J.' in the documentary, I think it's the same thing with Alex," Kucherov, the Tampa Bay Lightning forward, told NHL.com on Monday. "It gets personal. He hunted this. Not many people have that; I see it and I'm going to go get it and I'm not scared about it. Like, they attack. He's one of those guys."

Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals forward and captain, was in full-on attack mode all season in his pursuit of the record that used to belong to Wayne Gretzky.

He entered the season needing 42 goals in 82 games to break Gretzky's record of 894. Ovechkin scored his 42nd goal in his 61st game, Washington's lone goal in a 4-1 loss at the New York Islanders.

Ovechkin missed 16 games with a leg injury.

The Capitals (49-19-9) still have five regular-season games to play.

"It's crazy," Kucherov said. "Nobody could have ever thought something like this would happen, but he's done it and I'm very proud of him. I'm very proud for Russia to have such a great player, the best goal-scorer. For us, it's huge.

“I think he's a good example for the dedication and love for the game and the way he carries himself off the ice. He still puts up 42 goals at 39, which is crazy and it's a big inspiration for all of us to see what he does every year even at the age of 39."

Kucherov, who is tied with Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon for the NHL lead with 115 points (34 goals, 81 assists) in 73 games, said he knew from the sequence of events that preceded the record-breaking goal that Ovechkin was going to get it on that play.

The Capitals were on the power play. Dylan Strome carried the puck through the neutral zone. The Islanders were in a 2-2 box. Before Strome gained the blue line, he passed to Tom Wilson, who was on his right. Wilson had some space. He carried the puck down a few strides to the top of the right face-off circle.

Ovechkin was at the top of the left circle. Wilson sped a pass through the middle untouched to Ovechkin. He had to reach back slightly to corral the puck and then he whipped a hard, heavy shot past goalie Ilya Sorokin.

"He saw the play develop, he jumped in the hole and got the puck," Kucherov said. "He was able to receive it and collect and put it short side. I played with 'Stammer' (Steven Stamkos) and I think Ovi and Stammer are the only two guys that can shoot the puck from the circle like that and always be in position to get the puck. It doesn't matter if it's a bad or good pass, they're always ready. It's just something special when they shoot the puck, and when they shoot the puck something good is happening."

Something great happened on that play. Kucherov marveled while watching on television.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper was in attendance at UBS Arena, an opportunity afforded through a scheduling coincidence he called "fortuitous."

Tampa Bay played in Buffalo on Saturday and then flew to New York, where it won 5-1 against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday. The Lightning had a scheduled off day Sunday, so Cooper, assistant Jeff Halpern, general manager Julien BriseBois and assistant GM Mathieu Darche were able to get to Elmont, New York, in the hopes of seeing hockey history.

"I've been extremely fortunate to coach in this league for it seems a while now, but when you get to witness or have an opportunity to witness generational history, I found myself wanting to be there to see if it was going to happen, to just take in the whole environment and how appreciative everybody in the building was, including Wayne Gretzky, of what was actually going on," Cooper said. "I think everybody in the building felt they were seeing something they might not see again in their lifetime.

“It was a really, really cool event."

Cooper said the fact that Gretzky wore a Gordie Howe No. 9 pin on his suit jacket lapel was the added touch that brought it all together. Howe held the NHL goals record of 801 until Gretzky broke it on March 23, 1994. Howe died June 10, 2016.

"It was really like Gordie Howe was there, then it was 'Gretz' and then it was Ovi,” Cooper said of Gretzky wearing the Howe pin. "You just felt something historic in our league. Wayne just exudes class, and everything he said pre- and post-record breaking, basically handing the mic to Ovi was like passing the torch.

“It was one of those bucket-list moments. You just felt like you were a part of hockey history."