Ovechkin staying steady amidst record-chase chaos: 'I feel the same'

WASHINGTON — There’s an audible buzz that ripples around the rink every time Alex Ovechkin touches the puck. 

Sure, the Washington Capitals captain has always had that effect on hockey fans, but these days, it feels different. These days, it is different. Because one of these days — and if a three-game goal streak tells us anything, it’ll be one day very, very soon — we’ll see a new name written atop the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring list. 

If Ovechkin feels that shift in oohs and ahhs, or feeds off the heightened tension each time he so much as motions towards the puck, sets up shop near the blue paint or strides into his office at the left faceoff dot, he doesn’t let on. 

“I feel the same,” he said Wednesday night after scoring goal No. 892 in a 5-1 loss to the Hurricanes in Raleigh. The loss to a division rival no doubt dulled any enthusiasm shared post-game about the 39-year-old’s 39th-marker of the season that brought him to within three of Wayne Gretzky’s record, but Ovechkin’s casual remarks speak volumes about his mindset amidst this historic time in hockey. 

“It’s game by game, and we’ll see,” he said, the picture of casual in a red toque and hoody, sitting before a backdrop adorned with the NHL’s special Gr8 Chase logo — a backdrop that travels with the team now, rolled out after each goal. 

A man of few words, but many goals, is approaching the game like he always does. But the rest of the hockey world? This is something entirely new. Not since Wayne Gretzky passed the legendary Gordie Howe with goal No. 802 in March 1994 have we seen the goal-scoring title change hands. When Gretzky hung up his skates five years and 92 goals after taking over the crown, the idea that anyone else could ever wear it felt impossible. 

Now, we’re about to see Ovechkin do exactly that — and he’s picking up his pace en route to No. 895. After posting what was becoming a reliable every-other-matchup rhythm from mid-March to the end of the month, and casting a shadow of doubt about whether he’d reach the record by season’s end, Ovechkin followed up Sunday’s goal against the Sabres, a perfectly timed tip, with another two nights later in Boston — this time, a tap-in that might just have been the easiest of his career. Wednesday saw a tired Capitals club hit the ice in Raleigh for the second half of a back-to-back, but it also brought another goal from the captain — the kind of signature one-timer that feels inevitable when he’s in his sweet spot with the man advantage.

Extend that goal-scoring streak to four Friday night when the Blackhawks come to town (a game you can see on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+, starting at 7 p.m. ET), and he’ll have fans inching ever closer to the edges of their seats. Double up with a two-goal effort against, and he’ll match The Great One’s feat of 894. A hat trick, and he’s got history.

A record held for more than three decades, chased by Ovechkin for two, could come down to one big night at this point.

Count Nicklas Backstrom among those not at all surprised to see No. 8 here.

“I always said that if there's any guy who could do it, it's him,” Backstrom said last month, when Ovechkin was seven goals shy of history. Few understand exactly what has gone into Ovechkin’s high-scoring ways better than the man who served up pucks on a platter as one half of one of the NHL’s most prolific playmaking duos. 

“You probably don't see him score the coast-to-coast like he maybe did ten years ago,” said Backstrom, “but at the same time, he's always had this ability to score different ways — tips, one-timers, he's just got that ability.

“He's gonna do it. It's just a matter of time. That's the kind of goal scorer he is. I mean, sometimes it just seems like the puck just finds him, you know? And he's got that ability to put the puck in the net like no one else,” he said. 

As the goals themselves have changed, so too have his linemates. Backstrom was shut down early in the 2023-24 campaign while dealing with lingering hip issues that have forced him to remain sidelined on LTIR all season. The roster around Ovechkin, one that’s been operating like a well-oiled machine atop the Eastern Conference almost wire-to-wire this year, has almost entirely turned over since claiming the Stanley Cup in 2018.

But Ovechkin’s steady presence — on the score sheet, in the locker room, as the face of the franchise for 20 years and as the club’s goal-scoring leader in every single one of them — has not. 

“He's always been the same,” said Backstrom. “The first time I met him, he's the same kind of person that he is today.”

As the magic number of goals separating Ovechkin from No. 895 shrinks, the entourage around him grows, Backstrom included. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was in attendance Wednesday night, and he’s expected to be joined by Gretzky starting Friday as the hockey world braces for history. 

Game by game, and we’ll see. Any day now.