Coaching Alex Ovechkin for three seasons has normalized his hot pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record for Peter Laviolette.
“Not a crazy thing at all,” Laviolette said before his New York Rangers faced Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Saturday. “I don’t see him slowing down.”
Nope, not slowing down.
Ovechkin scored the fifth goal in a 7-4 win to get No. 872 and move 23 back of breaking Gretzky’s record of 894 that long seemed unapproachable. He has four in five games since returning from missing the previous 16 with a broken leg.
“It’s incredible,” teammate Connor McMichael said. “Ever since I was a kid, I grew up watching him do all these amazing things, and now to have a front-row seat to him doing something really special has been awesome. He’s been helping our team win night in and night out, so I can’t say enough good things about him.”
Ovechkin is one away from reaching 20 goals in all 20 of his seasons in the league. The broken left fibula paused the Gretzky chase, but the 39-year-old has returned with a vengeance.
“To be honest with you, I feel every game better – touches, skating wise,” Ovechkin said. “I’ll take it.”
Center Dylan Strome, who has assisted on 14 of Ovechkin’s 19 goals, said, “It just feels like he gets on these runs.” Because of these runs, Ovechkin remains on pace to pass Gretzky this spring.
“Obviously, he’s an all-time great,” Capitals winger Andrew Mangiapane said. “Just seeing his every day kind of lifestyle and seeing him on the ice and every time he scores, it’s a great kind of feeling and I think it pumps up everyone on our bench.”
Laviolette, who coached Washington from 2021-23, praised Ovechkin’s shot as being the best in the world but pointed more to his work ethic than anything else to explain how the scoring has continued.
“He’s a guy that just doesn’t stop,” Laviolette said. “He wants to get better. He’s going to play hurt. He’s going to play injured. He’s going to get out there (and) he’s going to try and make a difference for his team.”