The 4 Nations Face-Off paused the NHL season for a few days in the middle of the month, but that didn't stop Alex Ovechkin from continuing his very rich run of goalscoring form as he continues to light the lamp for the Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals.
After a scintillating run, the Great Eight's chase of Wayne Gretzky's hallowed record of 894 goals — the top of the mountain among all-time career goal scorers — may still be within reach in the season's final 23 games.
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Here the seven goals Ovi scored for the Capitals in the month of February:
Career Goal No. 877
The Capitals couldn't get the win in overtime against the Winnipeg Jets, but Ovechkin's tally (from Tom Wilson, Matt Roy) gave him 24 on the year and leveled the score in the third and helped earn Washington a point on the first day of the month.
Career Goal No. 878
Three days later against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, Ovi just beat the fina horn to put the icing on a four-goal third period for Washington for a 6-3 Capitals win with an empty net goal (Martin Fehervary, Nic Dowd) to give him 25 on the year.
Career Goal No. 879
On the road in Philadelphia, the Capitals found themselves down 1-0 late in the first period until Ovechkin leveled things (Fehervary, Dylan Strome) for his 26th of the year. Washington would grab a 2-1 lead that became a 3-2 deficit in the second before two goals in the third earned the Caps a win over the Flyers.
Career Goal No. 880, 881, 882
After not scoring in back-to-back games (but grabbing three assists in one of those contests), Ovi made up for loss time by scoring his 32nd career hat trick against the Edmonton Oilers in a 7-3 win for the Capitals with Strome, Aliaksei Protas, Jakob Chychrun all tallying assists before he added an unassisted empty netter late in the third.
Career Goal No. 883
Ovechkin cut the Calgary Flames lead in half with a power play goal (John Carlson, Strome) in the early goings of the third period, but Washington fell 3-1 despite Ovi netting his 30th goal on the season. This means the Great 8 has scored 30 or more goals in 19 of his 20 seasons. (He only failed to eclipse the 30-goal mark when he scored 24 in the pandemic-shortened regular season of 2020-21.)