Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin racked up another milestone on Thursday night: he reached 31 goals this season and joined Mike Gartner as the only players to score 30 or more in each of his first 15 NHL seasons. He has five over his past two games to get to 689 total, one back of Mario Lemieux for 10th on the NHL’s all-time list.
Ovechkin helped his Caps to a 5-2 win with his hat trick, but he revealed after the game what pushed him to rack up three goals.
And it started with a stick. Not his: Ovechkin was caught by the stick of New Jersey’s Miles Wood and the referees did not see it. The star player had to leave the game shortly and came back with a bloody mouth.
He was still able to explain why he scored the hatty after the incident:
“Yeah I was little mad and I just punish them.”
Rival players should know: from now on don’t hit Ovi with your stick. Or you will pay.
Talk about punishment. Ovechkin led his team, but was just happy to get the victory and the chance to celebrate with his teammates.
“It never gets old, but without my team, without my teammates, I’d never reach that milestone, I’d never reach those numbers,” Ovechkin said after the game. “(Lemieux was) one of my idols when I’m growing up. I get lucky I have a time to play against him, was on the ice with him a couple times. It’s huge.”
