We don’t know whether this will be Alex Ovechkin’s final season as a Washington Capital or not, but there’s never a bad time to reflect back on two decades of being treated to this amazing talent. So each game day throughout the 2025-26 season, we’re going to be picking an Ovechkin moment to remember against that day’s opponent as we look back at an incredible career.
Hat Trick En Route to Gretzky – February 23, 2025
Alex Ovechkin having a multi-goal game isn’t exactly novel; the Caps’ captain has been known for scoring in bunches, terrorizing opposing goalies over the course of his career. Every multi-goal game of the 2024-25 season, however, seemed to take on a little extra sparkle as he set his sights on Wayne Gretzky’s record. He’d picked up a hat trick against the Vegas Golden Knights back in November, and added a two-goal game against Utah before breaking his leg and missing the next 16 games…so time was of the essence.
And while he was scoring at a pretty decent clip since his return, this night against Edmonton kicked the Chase into overdrive.
Ovechkin first got on the board in the second period, capitalizing on a passing play with Aliaksei Protas and Dylan Strome that left him to take his usual ruthless shot from the slot past Calvin Pickard. He followed it up with a goal from his office on the power play about 10 minutes later to give the Caps a 4-1 lead, and then capped off the hat trick with an empty-netter – goals 880, 881 and 882:
His second hat trick of the season put Ovechkin just 13 away from breaking the record and went into the books as the 32nd of his career, moving him into a tie with Phil Esposito for fifth-most all time.
As teammate Tom Wilson noted after the game, “whenever he gets a goal or two, I’ve never seen a guy so hungry. Some guys score and they (think), ‘OK, I had a good night.’ He comes back to the bench (and) he’s asking if he can go out again like right away. It’s pretty fun, and it’s been an amazing journey watching him do what he can do.”