Mantha also scored his eighth goal of the season, but his assist, which helped Ovechkin complete his 29th NHL hat trick, looms much larger.
"It's awesome," Mantha said. "I mean, you don't really think about it, obviously, and it just happened there was a line change and he jumped on while we were finishing our shift. You got Evgeny Kuznetsov]*
Ovechkin scored his 798th goal, and 18th of this season, 24 seconds into the game. His 799th goal came at 8:14 of the first period, on the power play.
After Ovechkin scored his 800th, he was mobbed by his teammates as some fans threw hats on the ice. Ovechkin also received a standing ovation and an "Ovi" chant from the United Center crowd.
Mantha said he and other Capitals had a feeling Tuesday was good to be a big night for Ovechkin.
"We kind of called it before, last night actually. I was with 'Stromer' [Capitals forward Dylan Strome] at dinner and we're like, 'I have a feeling 'O's going to go for three, four, maybe five tomorrow night,'" he said. "It just sometimes … it happens. He kind of got a couple of empty-net goals to get it going and tonight it was coming on his blade and going in the back of the net."
Mantha said he and Pronovost have had some great conversations about hockey through the years. Another one will likely come soon.
"There's probably going to be one in the next couple of days, that's for sure, or as soon as [Ovechkin] breaks the next record," Mantha said. "We're going to talk, for sure."
