Alex Ovechkin’s capital teammates embrace Record Chase: “ You want to pass it to him ”

Washington-Perhaps even more than fear, gratitude, pleasure, canet-you believe that we should be following this feeling, it is the sound that will stick to Dylan Strome. The way in which the burning din of 18,000 people suddenly merged into a crescendo in unison with audible anticipation a fraction of a second before something happens.

These days, no one looks at his phone when Alex Ovechkin is on the ice. Almost all the fan of the building are locked up on n ° 8 of the capital of Washington, moving involuntarily towards the edge of their seats each time the puck hits its stick. Or even if he just finds open ice. Yes, sometimes the sound even beats the pass.

And not only in Capital Onena in Washington. At Madison Square Garden in New York. At TD Garden in Boston. At PNC Arena in Raleigh. Wherever the itinerant circus stops for the night. Long Island, look, it happens on Sunday, with Ovechkin with a single goal of possession of the NHL career record.

“The juice, the life that comes to life in the ice when it gets the washer – it’s quite incredible,” said Strome. “You can say that a lot of intelligent hockey fans have looked at, because when it gets the puck in the right places, there is a little more buzz. It was cool. It looks like each game becomes more and more spectacle. The skating rinks are incredible.”

But there is still no place like the house. After Ovechkin scored the 893rd goal of his career – a shy from Wayne Gretzky’s record – during her second quarter of work Friday evening against the Chicago Blackhawks, the crowd reacted as if he were a match winner in the playoffs. And the buzz remained at this level throughout the night. At the end of his third quarter of work, when he was ready to get out of the ice, a chipped washer almost succeeded in the offensive zone far from the net but was intercepted by a blackhawks player. The crowd reacted with an exaggerated “Ohhhhh” which generally accompanies only shots. They thought that he had equaled the record with a potential game goal in the third period, but he actually went to the defender of the Blackhawks Connor Murphy.

Ovechkin again! Objective 894 !!! 😱

He equaled the record for goals of all time! # Gr8chase

🇺🇸: @Nhlnetwork
🇨🇦: @Sportnetnet or broadcast on sportsnet + ➡️ https://t.co/4kjbdjvctf pic.twitter.com/jz3ozktfgn

– NHL (@nhl) April 5, 2025

Thus, when Ovechkin passed the washer through the line to equalize the record at the start of the third period – Vintage Ovechkin fashion, on a unique power game from his office in the right circle of a flow of John Carlson – the ground trembled in the district. And with each chance of successive notation – a breakaway in the third period, four attempts to shoot in the last 80 seconds – the crowd jumped and went up and covered the head with a simulated agony and laughed and applauded and applauded. Ovechkin has not yet obtained the file, but no one has left Capital Onena feeling in the short term.

“When guys who are bigger than life like him – anyone who goes for something else, probably would not have happened,” said Carlson. “But the great of the greats of the greats find just a way to do it and do it in theater and in style.”

Everyone in the building wants to attend history. This also applies to Ovechkin’s teammates. But they can do better. They can be a part of history. And everyone wants to have their name on the match sheet next to n ° 895, to be the next Marty McSorley and set up the record count.

“If you are lucky enough to pass him, you want to convey it to him,” said Capitals winger Tom Wilson. “There are a lot of smart players. If there is an open game, most guys will try to make the right game. But if it is open or there is a chance that you can make him the washer, you will obviously try at this stage to set up one of the best scorers. Once you have maintained it in his hands, good things will generally happen.”

So yes, Ovechkin’s teammates have sometimes forced the washer these days. And no, they will not apologize for it. It is generally a fairly solid strategy anyway.

“Oh, for sure,” said Strome, who helped 20 of the 41 goals from Ovechkin this season, and a team summit of 46 since he joined the capital in 2022-23. “I think I have been doing this for three years, to be honest. But, when it is open, you try to give it a little more. But at the same time, it is generally open. It wants the puck in these areas, and it is our work to do it for him.”

Gretzky twice on Friday said that all the attention on his prosecution of the Gordie Howe record in the 1993-1994 season was difficult for his teammates, but the capitals seem to love every second. The distinct smell of beer in the post-match changing rooms was proof. Ovechkin, while acknowledging the magnitude of the moment and calling for the “super for hockey” prosecution after the morning skates of the caps on Friday, said on several occasions that his goal was on the game. Perhaps hers were, but his teammates focused on the file. They don’t even claim the opposite. Washington is practically locked in the seeded of the Eastern Conference, and Strome said that Ovechkin’s prosecution of the Gretzky record has lent a meaning to the games that otherwise do not mean much.

The record is, frankly, the absolute priority of Washington at the moment. For all the franchise, really. Each objective is announced on the public-address system as “893rd goal …” of Ovechkin or “894th objective …”, because a giant three-digit panel gives way to a higher number.

It is much less stressful – and much more fun – than last season, when the capital scraped and clawed just to enter the playoffs in the eighth seeded.

“It would be totally different if it was like (last season),” said Strome. Obviously, we are trying to win the hockey match. We try to play (well), we try to win. The chances that he get an empty network are quite high if we win the game too, so it’s obviously good. But it was so fun. Whenever he has the Puck, we all want him to mark more than anything.

Being on the other side of the ice can be just as energizing. The 31st place Blackhawks underwent their 12th defeat in 13 games on Friday evening, but Ovechkin’s pursuit also gave them something to play. As much as the capital want to be part of the story, their opponents desperately want to avoid doing it.

“We are playing a spoiler,” said Vétier Veteran Pat Maroon before the match. “And (apart from that), it’s going to be great. There will be a lot of people in the stands and it’s going to be cool. We have a lot of young guys here who play in front of Wayne Gretzky, probably the best player in the world. And many people with Stardom will be here to try to do something special. Our job is to ruin it for them.”

Chicago’s list is responsible for players about half of Ovechkin’s age, and there was a feeling palpable of excitement to compete. It will be the same for practically any list of the League, with the Icelanders to follow.

“It’s a legend,” said Artyom Levshunov, 19. “It’s incredible. When I grew up, I looked at him a lot. Even now, it’s still my favorite player on the ice. It’s unreal to play against him.”

This fear never seems to disappear, that you were born a few weeks in Ovechkin’s career in the NHL, like Levshunov, or that you have been his teammate for a dozen years, like Wilson. Seeing how Ovechkin with casualness managed the pursuit only did so farming in the eyes of his teammates.

“The amount of pressure is greater than hockey,” said Wilson. “The whole hockey match is on his shoulders at the moment. There are guys like me or my teammates who feel the pressure every night, (but) it is a higher level. To be able to manage this, and continue to play and continue to direct this team to be a high level team of the League, and to be just a funny teammate and a funny guy – it’s remarkable.”

The ticking clock is looming on the pursuit – the regular season ends in less than two weeks – added juice in pursuit, not that it really needed it. It would be quite anticlimitated if Ovechkin entered next season stuck on 894, with a full season ahead of him. But capital does not seem very concerned about the fact that this happens. We have long been so; It’s now when. A player after the match, without a hint of hyperbole in his voice, said that Ovechkin would be at 900 before the end of the season in 11 days.

More than 18,000 fans, a dozen teammates and Gretzky himself were all a little surprised that this did not happen on Friday. Two goals for a 39 -year -old seemed almost a disappointment.

The file is simply inevitable at this stage.

“Well, yes, come on,” said Strome. “I hoped for it. But even at the start of the season, would it be like it will happen? This is something that you can’t really explain because none of us never experienced something like that.

The pursuit is now moving to Long Island for a Sunday morning. Then, the capitals left until Thursday’s home match against Carolina. The last chance for Ovechkin to break the home record would come next Sunday against Columbus.

But whether in Washington or elsewhere, it might seem the same thing.

(Photo of Alex Ovechkin, Jakob Chychrun and Andrew Mangiapane: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)