<p>At 39 years of age, <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/washington-capitals/line-combinations">Washington Capitals’ </a>captain Alex Ovechkin continues to be one of the league’s best goal scorers, and on Sunday afternoon, he inched closer to breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record. </p>



<p>Ovechkin scored a hat trick on Sunday against the<a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/edmonton-oilers/line-combinations"> Edmonton Oilers</a>, leading Washington to a 7-3 win. The Capitals’ forward has 29 goals on the season and 882 in his career, just 12 away from tying Gretzky’s career mark of 894. </p>



<p>Ovechkin scored his first of the day midway through the second period off a drop pass from Dylan Strome, burying a wrister past Calvin Pickard to make it 3-1 Capitals. </p>


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Everybody and their mother knew nobody was stopping this one <a href="https://t.co/1xIPQnRvZg">pic.twitter.com/1xIPQnRvZg</a></p>
<p>— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Capitals/status/1893743700196397519?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>



<p>Ten minutes later on the power play, from the spot near the faceoff dot where he’s scored hundreds of times, Ovechkin one-timed another past Pickard to make it 4-1 Washington. </p><div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="159"></div>


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">We are not worthy<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ALLCAPS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ALLCAPS</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueHalo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BlueHalo</a> <a href="https://t.co/rgvEmVsDQh">pic.twitter.com/rgvEmVsDQh</a></p>
<p>— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Capitals/status/1893748915448463506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>



<p>With just minutes left in the game and the score was 6-3 Capitals, the Oilers had an empty net with three minutes to go, when Ovechkin found a loose puck and fired it down the ice and into the Edmonton cage to seal the victory and give himself a hat trick, the 32nd of his career. </p>


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ovi saw the boys score eight yesterday to honor him and decided to say thanks with a hatty today</p>
<p>True leadership from our GOAT <a href="https://t.co/KwqSCcQEcm">pic.twitter.com/KwqSCcQEcm</a></p>
<p>— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Capitals/status/1893762785164632544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>



<p>The Capitals have 25 regular-season games remaining on the schedule, meaning Ovechkin needs to score 13 more goals if he wants to break Gretzky’s record. With 29 goals in 41 games, Ovechkin has a goals-per-game rate of 0.70, putting him on pace to finish the season with 46 goals. </p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="157"></div>



<p><strong><em><a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/pittsburgh-penguins-place-jesse-puljujarvi-on-waivers">Follow Daily Faceoff’s Alex Ovechkin goal tracker</a></em></strong></p>
