ARLINGTON, Va. -- Alex Ovechkin is on another hot streak and setting an early pace toward potentially making history before the season ends.
Ovechkin has five goals during a four-game goal streak he'll carry into the Washington Capitals' game against the Nashville Predators at Capital One Arena on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, MNMT, TVAS). The 39-year-old left wing has seven goals in 11 games this season to increase his career total to 860 and move within 35 goals of breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL record of 894.
It's a small sample size, but Ovechkin is on a pace to score 52 goals this season, which would his put his career total at 905.
"I think the whole line is playing well," Ovechkin said Tuesday. "We're connecting, playing for each other, and that's the most important thing."
The top line of Ovechkin (five goals, four assists), Dylan Strome (one goal, seven assists) and Aliaksei Protas (three goals, four assists) combined for 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists) in a four-game stretch last week to help Washington (8-3-0) go 3-1-0. Ovechkin was selected as NHL First Star of the Week for the period ending Nov. 3.
Strome leads the Capitals with 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in 11 games, Ovechkin is second with 14 points and Protas is fourth with 11 (four goals, seven assists) in 11 games. Ovechkin's goal streak is his 33rd of at least four games, which is one behind Mario Lemieux for most in NHL history.
Strome said his approach is simple when Ovechkin is on a heater like this one.
"Get him the puck," Strome said. "I think that's the best way to describe it. Obviously it's going well for him. You've got to find a way to get him the puck when he's open. We have lots of chances in the game, whether it's off face-offs or in the [offensive] zone or on the power play. He's making great plays too. That's the thing: It's not just his goals. I think his assists are up, too, and he's making really good passes and we're finding a way to connect."
That didn't come without work, though. Shortly after coach Spencer Carbery put the line together in the Capitals' second game of the season, against the Vegas Golden Knights, Ovechkin called a meeting with Strome and Protas to watch video of their shifts.
"Sometimes if things aren't going well or we didn't get a lot of chances, I think it's good to watch some stuff," said Strome, who is tied for fifth in the NHL with 13 assists. "We just watched our clips from one game. … We just watched the whole game and talked about where we can find each other on the ice and where we can be more open. After the third or fourth game, it's kind of been clicking a lot better."
Carbery views this as another example of Ovechkin showing his leadership.
"That's just, to me, our captain," Carbery said. "Leadership 101 right there is taking the bull by the horns and saying, 'How am I going to help our line perform better and play better? Let's go look at some of the stuff and get on the same page together.'"
Although Ovechkin scored two goals in the Capitals' first seven games, it was clear to Carbery this was not going to be repeat of last season, when Ovechkin didn’t score his seventh goal until his 34th game and had only 21 points during that span.
"It's been nice to see a few go in, but his line has been a productive line all year long if you look at the underlying numbers and watch the shifts," Carbery said. "Sometimes he was running a little bit cold where pucks weren't going in for him early on, but their line was still really effective. Sometimes as a goal scorer he gets a little impatient. He's like, 'Hey, you know, what's going on?'
"Just relax. The process looks good, the film looks good, you're getting into good spots, you're spending more time in the offensive zone, your line is productive, you're generating 10 scoring chances and only giving up four. That's a good night. Just stick with it."
Ovechkin joked that the biggest difference from his start last season is, "'Stromer' find me and give me the puck." He also noted that there's a higher comfort level in Carbery's second season as coach.
"I think overall our line play is better, we know the system," Ovechkin said. "Because last year 'Carbs' came, different system, and we have to figure out how we have to play. And right now you can see we know the system. Everybody knows what we have to do exactly."
The Capitals getting off to a better start as a team, especially offensively, also has helped. Washington went 5-4-2 and was 31st in the NHL in scoring at two goals per game in its first 11 games last season. This season the Capitals are third in the League at 4.18 goals per game.
"I think the atmosphere that we have right now in the locker room is tremendous, and when you’re winning it's always nice," Ovechkin said. "But there's going to be ups and downs and we have to figure out ... we have to see how we're going to respond when we go down because those days are always going to be there. And we just have to stick together."
Ovechkin's pursuit of Gretzky's record will gain more attention the closer he gets to it. That he could possibly break it this season hasn't appeared to impact his play so far though.
"No, it doesn't look like it because sometimes you see when a teammate scores the goal, he's happier than when he scores," Protas said. "It just says a lot about him as a teammate, as a captain and leader. For sure everybody knows if we have team success the individual success will come with it."
