Ovechkin's mind on Capitals' skid after he moves closer to Gretzky record

WASHINGTON -- Alex Ovechkin didn’t have much interest in talking about scoring his 890th goal on Sunday.

The goal, which moved Ovechkin within five of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894, gave the Washington Capitals some hope of a third-period comeback, but it ultimately fell short in a sloppy 8-5 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at Capital One Arena.

So, Ovechkin’s primary concern was that Washington (47-17-9) has lost three straight games (0-2-1) and is suddenly searching for answers with nine regular-season games remaining before the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“We lost three in a row and maybe it’s a good thing it’s happening right now and not in the playoffs,” said Ovechkin, the Washington captain. “But we just have to bounce back, and we just have to find our way to win the games.”

The Capitals are comfortably atop the Eastern Conference with a nine-point lead on the Carolina Hurricanes and an 11-point lead on the Toronto Maple Leafs, so they’re likely to have home-ice advantage at least through the conference final if they can get that far. But it’s also understandable that Ovechkin, coach Spencer Carbery and the rest of the Capitals were more worried about their recent play than Ovechkin’s record chase after allowing a season-high eight goals to the Sabres (31-36-6), who are last in the Eastern Conference.

“Guys are trying and there’s effort stuff involved, but at the end of the day, you have to be able to just play direct and play our style and we fail to do that against this team consistently, which ultimately falls on me,” Carbery said. “And that’s why I have to change things and make some decisions to move guys around to try to get something on track for our group.”

Although Washington scored first, with Ovechkin getting his first of three points (one goal, two assists) on Jakob Chychrun’s rebound goal at 10:06 of the first period, it spent most of the game trying to keep up with Buffalo, which led 4-2 entering the third period.

After Ovechkin played just 2:52 in the second period, Carbery switched up his combinations in the third and put Ovechkin on a line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Anthony Beauvillier, who moved up from the fourth line. The change provided a little spark, but the Capitals trailed 6-3 before Ovechkin deflected Rasmus Sandin’s left point shot between Sabres goalie James Reimer’s pads at 9:11 of the third for his 890th goal.

“It’s an insane number,” said Capitals forward Aliaksei Protas, who reached 30 goals in season for the first time with his short-handed goal 37 seconds into the third. “I don’t think I will ever get that in NHL 2025. Maybe 2026. Maybe none of them.”

Ovechkin’s goal was also the 39-year-old’s team-leading 37th of the season. That’s the third-most goals by a player 39 or older (at the start of a season) behind only Gordie Howe, who scored 44 goals in 1968-69 when he was 40 and scored 39 in 1967-68 when he was 39.

The crowd initially thought Ovechkin scored again when his center-point shot went in on the power play to cut Washington’s deficit to 6-5 at 14:03, but replay showed that Pierre-Luc Dubois deflected in Ovechkin’s shot in front. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff was a bit concerned, though.

When asked before the game about it being unlikely Ovechkin would get all six goals he needed to pass Gretzky against the Sabres, Ruff joked, “I wouldn’t count him out.” Those words crossed Ruff’s mind when Buffalo’s three-goal lead was quickly cut to one with Ovechkin having a hand in both Washington goals.

“I was thinking when they started going in [that] he might get his six and I should have kept my mouth shut,” Ruff said.

The Sabres halted the Capitals comeback, though, when Alex Tuch's deflection goal at 15:34 increased their lead to 7-5. Peyton Krebs’ empty-net goal at 19:36 sealed that Ovechkin’s 890th would come in defeat.

Ovechkin’s next chance to move closer to Gretzky will come when the Capitals visit TD Garden to face the Boston Bruins on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MNMT, NESN, TVAS2, SN1).

“He’s chasing something special,” Protas said. “He helped us get close in that game, but again a couple mistakes cost us.”