Alex Ovechkin’s quest for the top of the all-time goalscoring charts is attracting attention, but while he waits before scoring his first of the campaign, “Ovi” seems happy to set up those of his teammates.
The Washington Capitals captain collected the 699th and 700th assists of his career on Tuesday in a 4-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights.
Ovechkin assisted on Tom Wilson’s goal on a power play early in the second period, before doing it again 2:10 later by superbly feeding Aliaksei Protas at even strength for the net to give the Caps a 3-1 lead .
The « Great 8 » becomes only the sixth player in history to amass at least 700 goals and 700 assists, after Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Phil Esposito, Marcel Dionne and Jaromir Jagr.
Sidney Crosby (1,007), Patrick Kane (814), Evgeni Malkin (804), Anze Kopitar (795), Nicklas Backstrom (762) and Claude Giroux (716) are the only other active players with 700 assists.
The 39-year-old veteran still needs 42 goals to dislodge Wayne Gretzky from first place in the NHL.
In addition to setting up two goals for his teammates, Ovechkin applied six hits. He already has 13 in two games, playing his 20th season in the Bettman circuit.
Jakub Vrana and Jakob Chychrun were the other scorers for Washington (1-1-0), while Logan Thompson signed the victory against his former club thanks to 24 saves.
Victor Olofsson and Jack Eichel managed to outwit Thompson.
Tested 22 times, Adin Hill gave in four times. This is the first defeat for the Nevada team in four games.
