By Zachary McMahon-
The Washington Capitals hosted the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night on a night where Alex Ovechkin was three goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s 894 goal mark, and The Great One was in attendance sitting next to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. The Caps had lost three out of the last four games after the loss against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Blackhawks had lost four straight prior to this match.
Ovechkin scored his 893rd goal in the first four minutes of the game, with assists from Dylan Strome and John Carlson. Tyler Bertuzzi tied it up at one 10 minutes later, as the game was tied at the end of the first period.
Frank Nazar helped the Blackhawks to take a lead with his eighth goal of the season, before Martin Fehervary tied it back up for the Caps. The Blackhawks ended the second period with the lead after Philipp Kurashev scored his seventh goal.
Dylan Strome had the equalizer with 3:23 left in the third period, and then Ovechkin tied Gretzky’s record with his 894th goal, after taking a pass from Carlton and beating Blackhawks goaltender Spencer Knight with the puck.
Ryan Leonard scored an empty-net goal in his third career game after ending his season with Boston College, as the Caps won 5-3 over the Hawks.
Landon Slaggert and Oliver Moore had their first career multi-point game with two assists each. Moore was in his third career game after ending his season with the University of Minnesota. Carlson had three assists for the third time this season.
Ovechkin scored his 894th goal in his 1,486th career game, while Gretzky finished in 1,487 games, with his last coming in his 1,479th game on March 29, 1999 when the New York Rangers played the New York Islanders.
Knight had 25 saves on 28 shots on goal, and Charlie Lindgren, who was replacing no. 1 goalie Logan Thompson due to injury, made 19 saves on 22 shots on goal.
Ovechkin will be able to break the record if he scores on Sunday afternoon against the New York Islanders at 12:30 puck drop on TNT/TBS/TruTV. Meanwhile the Blackhawks will play a home-and-home series against the Pittsburgh Penguins starting at the United Center on Sunday at 6 pm puck drop.
Sports Insider Daily 