For a moment there Tuesday night at the United Center, it looked like Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin might score three goals to reach the 800 club — in the first period.
In fact, it would take three periods.
“The Great 8? notched his 29th career hat trick — and first against the Chicago Blackhawks — to reach 800 career goals 6 minutes, 34 seconds into the third period. He was saluted with hats tossed on the ice, chants of “Ovie, Ovie” and a standing ovation during the Capitals’ 7-3 win.
Only Gordie Howe (801) and Wayne Gretzky (894) stand ahead of him.
“It’s a big number,” Ovechkin said. “The best company you can ever imagine since you started playing hockey”
Not that he needed further mythical feats to cement his place among the all-time greats, but Ovechkin all but announced he was going to reach the milestone in heroic fashion with a stunning opening goal 24 seconds into the game.
John Carlson’s pass to Ovechkin bounced in the air off Ovechkin’s stick, and as Jonathan Toews tried to settle the puck, Ovechkin swiped it and shot around Toews and past Hawks goaltender Petr Mrázek.
Before Ovechkin’s second goal 7:50 later, Mrázek creeped above the crease to defend Conor Sheary, making it easy pickings for Ovechkin to tap in Sheary’s down-low pass.
On the hat trick, it was as if the heavens opened.
After the puck bounced off Mrázek, the Hawks goalie dived in a futile attempt to cover but was too late.
Anthony Mantha found Ovechkin looking at a wide-open net with Mrázek sprawled in front, and Ovechkin buried it for the record books.
“It was great,” Ovechkin said. “Couple first goals (were) good bounces, and (on) the third one (Mantha) gave me a nice pass and I just put it in. The puck was on my curve, so I knew I just have to put it up and it’s in.”
“Soon as it happened, it was kind of relief, kind of happiness.”
Said Toews: “Pretty incredible milestone, (he’s) one of a kind. (There’s) some sense when we’re out of this moment, maybe it’s one of those things you’ll look back on. One of the great players of all time, so all due respect to him and scoring three goals to do it, getting himself an ovation and the ‘Ovie’ chant in our building tonight.“
Here are five takeaways from the Hawks’ loss.
1. Hawks fans can always say they were there for the big moment — and so can the players.
The United Center crowd gave Ovechkin a warm reception.
“Chanting my name. (Throwing) the hats. Even in the warmup, I was feeling that energy right away,” Ovechkin said. “The fans watch me and the fans want to see those historical moments.”
He also appreciated Toews’ and Patrick Kane’s well-wishes on the ice.
Hawks players appreciated the history made Tuesday night, but you could tell they didn’t want to be pictured in Ovechkin’s poster moment.
“I wish I wasn’t a part of that history, I wish I was more just watching it, but you know, it’s pretty remarkable for him,” Tyler Johnson said.
As a former member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Johnson has seen plenty of Ovechkin highlights in matchups against the Capitals. Still, he holds a certain reverence for what Ovechkin accomplished.
“He’s one of the best players of all time, right?” Johnson said. “He’s third now in goal scoring, going to be second and likely going to be No. 1 at some point, so it’s pretty remarkable to be breaking these records in today’s time with how good everyone is and the style of play.
“He’s a tremendous competitor. He’s tough to play, he’s physical, he competes and obviously his shot’s just deadly.”
2. Hat trick aside, the Hawks still gave up 4 other goals.
Ovechkin called his first two goals “good bounces.”
The Hawks would agree with that assessment.
“That’s what goal scorers get is those lucky breaks,” Johnson said.
Added Hawks coach Luke Richardson: “He’s a goal scorer and that’s what he does. He’s done it ever since I’ve seen him play.”
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There’s no easy explanation for the parade of miscues that led to the other goals, particularly a pair in the second period.
On the first goal in the period — the Caps’ third of the game — defensive pair Seth Jones and Jack Johnson bracketed Nick Jensen and left Trevor van Riemsdyk wide open on the back side for a score. Oh, and he was assisted by Ovechkin and Dylan Strome, like van Riemsdyk a former Hawk.
On the Capitals’ second goal in the second, Jones let the puck get by him in the neutral zone, then Jones and Johnson watched Garnet Hathaway and were too low in the zone and too late noticing Nic Dowd coming up the middle to stop him from snapping Hathaway’s pass past Mrázek.
“We can’t have two D’s up on a rush and turn a puck over,” Richardson said. “Petr gave us a chance. He made a save, but then we overbackchecked … a little too much, kind of focusing on guys like Ovechkin and (Evgeny) Kuznetsov.
“Their forwards are creative, but we gave up the back weakside a couple times tonight. It cost us the fourth (by Dowd) and maybe even the third goal (by van Riemsdyk) Those two really hurt and put us down.”
Johnson chalked it up to bad decision-making: “Sometimes we try to force things, sometimes we try a little bit too much for ‘hopers’ and think about a little bit too much offense compared to defense.”
Toews simply put it, “Nothing was good. So not really a straight answer there.” And he was at a loss when asked how to fix it.
“I don’t know what the first thing is, there’s a lot of things right now,” Toews said.
3. Tyler Johnson made his return from an ankle sprain — and scored.
Johnson put the Hawks on the board with a turnaround roof shot set up by Jake McCabe with one minute remaining in the first.
It was only Johnson’s seventh game of the season and his first since spraining his left ankle against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 25.
“I felt all right,” he said. “Rusty, for sure. Just decision-making, being in the right spots, getting the legs into it.
“You can bag skate, you can bike, you can do everything to try to prepare for a game, but until you get into it, it’s a little bit tougher.”
4. In the Hawks locker room, it’s a battle for just OK morale.
Before the game, Toews said it’s a special challenge to keep showing up with a positive attitude “when things aren’t going your way.”
After a 7-3 loss to the Capitals — the Hawks’ 12th in 13 games (1-11-1) — that resolve was grounded.
Asked about staying positive, Toews replied, “What choice do we got? What else are you going to do?”
The Hawks have seen these lows before and have to take the “same old, same old” approach.
“Just show up every period, keep talking, keep saying the right things,” Toews said. “Keep putting in your effort, do what you can and try to be a positive impact and not let that frustration get to you because it can happen to everybody, and that sort of thing is contagious.”
At least Toews scored on a second-period power play, his first goal since Nov. 19 in Boston.
5. Alex Ovechkin’s goal chase is a full-circle moment for Luke Richardson.
Ovechkin entered the night with 797 goals 30 games into his 18th season.
“Yeah, it’s impressive,” Richardson said pregame.
Richardson was a defenseman with the Columbus Blue Jackets when Ovechkin made his NHL debut on Oct. 5, 2005.
“I was in the first game he played and he had two goals. I was only on (the ice) for one, though,” Richardson said with a laugh. “Just that night, I remember him running over a defenseman, he scored two goals, they won 3-2.
“He’s an impact player from Day 1 and he still is now.”