WASHINGTON -- Alex Ovechkin reached 882 NHL goals with a hat trick in the Washington Capitals’ 7-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Capital One Arena on Sunday.
Ovechkin, who has 29 goals in 41 games this season, is 13 from passing Wayne Gretzky (894) for the all-time record with 25 games remaining in the regular season. It was his 32nd career hat trick.
“Game by game,” Ovechkin said when asked if passing Gretzky this season is doable. “Today I had pretty good chances to score more, but I'll take three.”
Dylan Strome had a goal and two assists, and Tom Wilson and Jakob Chychrun each had a goal and an assist for the Capitals (38-11-8), who won 8-3 at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday and are 5-0-3 in their past eight games. Aliaksei Protas had three assists, and Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves.
Washington is 11-0-5 in its past 16 home games.
“I thought [that was] as good as we’ve played all season from start to finish,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “We were so dialed in from puck drop to the end of that game -- the bench, not only what guys were vocalizing on the bench, but what they were going and doing every shift after shift after shift against as good a team as there is in the League on a back-to-back.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist, and Leon Draisaitl extended his point streak to eight games with a goal for the Oilers (34-19-4), who have lost three in a row and five of seven (2-4-1), including 6-3 at the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. Calvin Pickard made 27 saves.
“Just get back to work,” Edmonton captain Connor McDavid said. “Sometimes this happens after breaks; some teams come out flying, some come out flat. We’ve obviously been the latter, so [we’ve] got to get back to our game.”
Ovechkin scored his first of the game at 8:53 of the second period, taking a drop pass from Strome on the rush and scoring from the high slot to give Washington a 3-1 lead.
He made it 4-1 at 18:39 when he scored on a one-timer from the left circle on a power play.
“Gave up a lot of odd-man rushes, a lot of line rushes, a breakaway here or there,” Oilers forward Corey Perry said. “You give the best goal-scorer in the world that kind of time, he’s going to put it in the back of the net.”
Connor McMichael pushed the lead to 5-1 with a shot from the right circle at 19:45 off a return pass from John Carlson. It was his 20th goal of the season.
Nugent-Hopkins cut it to 5-2 with a backhand over Lindgren at 6:35 of the third period.
Strome scored for a third straight game on a rebound of Protas’ shot at 10:38 to make it 6-2.
Jeff Skinner cut it to 6-3 at 15:05, but Ovechkin completed the hat trick at 17:22 with an empty-net goal for the 7-3 final.
“I’m telling you, he amazes me night in and night out,” Lindgren said of Ovechkin. “He truly is the best. I’m so thankful that he’s a Washington Capital and to share a locker room with him, it’s been incredible.”
Draisaitl gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead at 1:42 of the first period, scoring a power-play goal on a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Nugent-Hopkins.
Wilson tied it 1-1 at 17:15 when he knocked in a rebound of Pierre-Luc Dubois’ point shot.
Chychrun put the Capitals ahead 2-1 with a power-play goal at 19:36 on a shot from the point right. It was his third goal in the past two games.
“I thought it was an excellent start,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Good pace, both teams skating well, chances at both ends, goaltenders made some really big saves. They continued that pace, and we dropped. They were able to just make a lot more plays. They were outskating us and we looked like the slow team tonight.”
NOTES: Washington’s 16-game home point streak is the second-longest in franchise history behind a 17-game stretch in 2016-17 (16-0-1). ... Ovechkin had a game-high nine shots on goal. ... Strome has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in an eight-game point streak. ... McDavid was minus-3 for a third straight game. Edmonton forwards Kasperi Kapanen and Vasily Podkolzin each was also minus-3. … Draisaitl has 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in his eight-game streak. He had two points in each of his previous four games before being held to one Sunday.
