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.
Another Four-Goal Night vs. Montreal – October 7, 2017
Alex Ovechkin is no stranger to hat tricks. He’s not a stranger to four-goal games, either, having posted four over the course of his career. Hell, by the 2017-18 season he wasn’t even a stranger to four-goal games against the Habs, having dinged Montreal for four back in 2008 (and yes…we will get to that one).
But in the second game of the season in 2017-18, Ovechkin – stop us if you’ve heard this one – made history.
In the season opener two days earlier, Ovechkin kicked things off with a bang, scoring three of his team’s four goals and added a shootout tally in the team’s 5-4 shootout win in Ottawa. Returning to DC for the season’s home opener against the Canadiens, he then proceeded to score just 20 seconds into the opening frame…and then twice more before the first period came to an end. A fourth goal in the second period rounded out his scoring for the evening en route to a dominant 6-1 win.
With his trio (plus one) of goals, he tied Peter Bondra for the franchise record in hat tricks – and became the first player in 100 years to start the season with back-to-back 3+ goal games.
You can relive his mastery below:
After the game, former longtime teammate Karl Alzner – now a member of the Canadiens – had this to say about #8:
“You give him an inch, that’s all he needs to snap it home. On the first one, an inch. On the tip-in, an inch. And that’s it. Sometimes you play good [defense] and it just doesn’t work out. That’s what good players do.”
NHL.com