Strome, Wilson honored to assist Ovechkin on record-breaking goal

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Alex Ovechkin, together in history forever.

"It's just an honor to be living through this and to see this," Wilson said.

Wilson has spent nearly a dozen years as teammates with Ovechkin on the Washington Capitals. They've played 780 regular-season games together. They won a Stanley Cup championship together in 2018.

But arguably no moment spent alongside Ovechkin will mean as much to Wilson on a personal level as the one they experienced together at UBS Arena on Sunday.

Wilson's pass from the top of the right face-off circle set-up Ovechkin for his record-breaking 895th goal scored from the top of the left circle at 7:26 of the second period against the New York Islanders.

Now and forever in the NHL history books Wilson's name will be directly next to Ovechkin's on the goal that officially broke Wayne Gretzky's record.

"I mean, it makes me a little bit emotional just because I think so much of him," Wilson said following the 4-1 loss that feels like nothing more than a sidenote on a record-breaking day in NHL history. "To be able to be beside him forever on a big goal, I feel very lucky. I feel very honored to be a part of that. It's not about me at all. I'm just really proud. I love that guy. I love his family. I'm really happy for him."

The assist was Wilson's 50th on an Ovechkin goal, which is the sixth most behind Nicklas Backstrom (279), John Carlson (158), Evgeny Kuznetsov (110), Mike Green (70) and Marcus Johansson (58).

It happened in their 780th game together, the third most games any player has played with Ovechkin behind Backstrom's 1,058 and Carlson's 1,033.

"He's such a great man and he can do whatever," Ovechkin said of Wilson. "He can fight. He can play all different situations. I'm happy for him."

The second assist on the record-breaking goal belongs to Strome, who now has assists on 21 of Ovechkin's 42 goals this season and 47 on his goals in his 212 games with him since 2022-23.

"Sometimes those moments happen where you've got to pinch yourself to believe that you're really in this moment, that I'm on the ice celebrating and a part of it," Strome said. "It was awesome."

Strome desperately wanted to be a part of this historic moment. As the center on Ovechkin's line for most of the season he felt the pressure of helping him reach 895.

Ovechkin knew how much it meant to him.

"I'm happy for 'Stromer,' " he said. "Probably Stromer is the happiest guy right now in the whole world because he's crazy about the stats, he knows everything, and he just wants to be in that history."

Strome said the play leading to the goal is one the Capitals specifically put together to use against the Islanders because of how their penalty kill is designed to defend power-play rushes.

He credited assistant Mitch Love, who is the architect of the Capitals' zone entries on the power play.

"The Islanders have a 2-2 box when most teams are 1-3," Strome said. "So, most teams you can carry it in (to the zone) and then you kick it out, and (Love) said against the Islanders you want the early kickout."

So, Strome carried the puck to the blue line, and then right away kicked it out to Wilson on the right side. If the Islanders were in a 1-3 setup that lane would have been occupied and Strome would have likely had to take the puck in deeper. But with the 2-2 box, there is room on the side for the puck to go to Wilson.

"So, I went up to (Love) just before the face-off and I said, 'Early kickout,' " Strome said. "He said yes. They were in exactly what he talked about, kicked it out to 'Willie' and 'Willie' made a great pass to 'O' and now we can finally say the rest is history."

Strome was in the middle when Wilson's pass was going through to Ovechkin. He said he never once thought about trying to touch the puck, though.

"No, God no," he said. "No, no, no."

Ovechkin got it, wound up and fired a shot through traffic and past Ilya Sorokin's blocker.

Washington coach Spencer Carbery said from where he was standing on the bench, he had a perfect view from behind the puck. He said he did not see a shooting lane with all the traffic in front of the goalie, but Ovechkin found one anyway, carrying Wilson and Strome into the history books with him.

"He's taken us on an amazing journey," Wilson said. "It'll be the honor of my career to play with 'O', learn so much from him, win with him, watch him score this goal. There are really no words to describe it."