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.
A Four-Goal, Five-Point Night – January 31, 2008
As crazy as it may sound, by the 2007-08 season, Alex Ovechkin had yet to score a hat trick in front of the hometown crowd in DC – to that point, all three hat tricks had come on the road.
That would change, in dramatic fashion, when the Caps hosted the Canadiens for a late January matchup.
The evening’s festivities got off to a bloody start, as Ovechkin took an inadvertent (?) high stick to the face from Alex Kovalev that would require stitches. Later in the game, a shoulder check from Francis Bouillon resulted in a broken nose. Bloodied but not beaten, Ovechkin ended up having one of the biggest nights of his career.
The goals started early, when Ovechkin put the team up 1-0 on a four-on-four play in the first period. They would extend their lead to 2-0 early in the second, courtesy of Viktor Kozlov – the only Capital not named Alex Ovechkin to score in this one, although it was scored off a nifty assist by the Great 8 himself. Later in the period, Kozlov would return the favor, sending Ovechkin in past the defense for his second goal of the night to put the Caps up 3-0.
The Habs would claw their way back into the game, scoring twice to make it 3-2 at the end of the second period (including a literal buzzer-beater to end the frame). That’s where it would remain until the final ten minutes of regulation, when Ovechkin would finally see the hats fly at then-Verizon Center when he put the team up 4-2.
Montreal once again pushed back, however, making it 4-3 just a few minutes after Ovechkin’s hat trick and then tying things up in another late-period push, this time with just over 30 seconds remaining in regulation.
Ah, but this was vintage Cardiac Caps, and Ovechkin and his teammates weren’t about to let this one fall away. With about 90 seconds left in overtime, Ovechkin parked himself in front of Cristobal Huet, perfectly placed for a pass from Jeff Schultz (what the heck was Jeff Schultz doing near the net?) to tap it in for the overtime winner and his fourth goal of the night.
After the game, Ovechkin talked about the game in typical Ovechkin fashion:
“Today was special day,” the Russian told reporters. “I broke my nose, I have stitches, I score four goals. Everything go to my face. It’s the fifth time I broke my nose. It’s okay.”
Ovechkin’s four goals lift Caps past Canadiens, 1/31/08
You can relive the magic in beautiful SD quality below (or if you have a Monumental account, watch a much prettier version here):