The Chicago Blackhawks knew they weren’t going to be a good team this year and it is showing. They are playing for the draft lottery at this point. However, with Alex Ovechkin in town, Tuesday’s game was worth watching. He had a pretty significant piece of history on his mind in this one.
He came into the game with 797 goals. Being three away from 800 was really cool but he would have needed a hat trick in order to get there on United Center ice. Luckily, scoring goals has been easy work for Ovechkin in his career and he did just that on Tuesday night.
Ovechkin scored his first of the game and the 798th of his career just 0:24 seconds into the game so it was on from there. You knew he was feeling good about himself at that point. Under 8 minutes later, he scored again to get to 799 and a 2-0 Capitals lead.
From there, the rest of the players started to show up a little bit and the Caps eventually had a 4-2 lead after two periods. Then, the magic happened.
Alex Ovechkin made history on Tuesday night against the Chicago Blackhawks.
At 6:34 of the third period, Ovechkin completed the hat trick with his 20th goal of the season and 800th of his NHL career. He is just the third player (Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe) to score 800 in this league. It is an amazing accomplishment.
Now, Ovechkin has to score just one more to tie (two to surpass) Gordie Howe for second most in the history of the NHL. After that, he will just trail The Great One who has 894. Ovechkin will pass that mark in the coming years for sure.
Being a 20-goal scorer in the NHL is hard anyway but it is especially hard for most 37-year-olds. Ovechkin did it before Christmas and is showing no signs of slowing down.
The rest of the game ended up being a big-time blowout as the Capitals beat the Blackhawks 7-3 for their fifth straight win. Don’t look now but they are just one point out of a playoff spot following this amazing night for Ovechkin.
After the goal was scored, the entire Capitals bench poured over the boards to congratulate their captain on this all-time great milestone. Even the Blackhawks players, fans, scoreboard, and public address announcer showed their love for The Great 8.
The Blackhawks have two Hall of Famers on their team right now just like Ovechkin and they both (Toews/Kane) made sure to congratulate this man on his big moment. It was truly special for hockey fans to watch. It will be so fun to see where this all goes from here.