Ovechkin looks to end drought, tie Howe at 801 goals vs. Jets

OTTAWA -- Alex Ovechkin had to settle for passing
Ray Bourque
in shots on Thursday instead of
Gordie Howe
in goals.

Ovechkin was held without a goal for the fourth straight game in the Washington Capitals' 3-2 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre, leaving him at
800 for his career
, one behind Howe for second in NHL history.
But the 37-year-old left wing had two assists and six shots on goal to increase his total to 6,211 for his 18-season NHL career, surpassing the League record of 6,209 previously held by Bourque (since the NHL began tracking shots on goal in 1959-60).
"It's pretty cool," Ovechkin said. "To be No. 1 in any category is pretty special, and I'll take it."
RELATED: Alex Ovechkin joins 800-goal club]
Ovechkin will take his next shots at catching Howe when the Capitals host the Winnipeg Jets at Capital One Arena in Washington on Friday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSWA, TSN3, SN NOW). He's scored 51 of his 800 goals against the Jets/Atlanta Thrashers, his most against any NHL franchise.
He had a host of scoring chances against the Senators, but was thwarted repeatedly by goalie Cam Talbot, who made 37 saves.
"You just have to play through it," Ovechkin said. "If I was playing out there and (got) zero chances, yeah, I would be worried. But I have chances. The goalie played good, and right now it's important to get two points and keep moving in the standings."
The Capitals (18-13-4) have won three in a row and eight of their past nine games to climb two points ahead of the New York Islanders into the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Ovechkin helped early in that surge by scoring seven goals in a four-game span, including his 29th NHL hat trick to reach 800 goals in a 7-3 victory at the Chicago Blackhawks on Dec. 13.
Ovechkin has four assists during his four-game goal drought since then, and leads Washington with 38 points (20 goals, 18 assists) in 35 games this season.
"It will come. It will come," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "He's just got to keep doing what he's doing."
That includes shooting the puck more than any NHL player on record.
"It probably goes hand in hand, right?" Laviolette said. "You've got to deliver the puck in order to be up there in goals. So, that's no surprise. It's pretty impressive, though."
Ovechkin has been through similar droughts when he has approached goal milestones in the past. He went three games without a goal before scoring his 600th against the Jets on March 12, 2018.
Then, he remained stuck on 698 goals for five straight before scoring in back-to-back games and getting his 700th against the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 22, 2020.
When Mark and Marty Howe represented their late father at the Capitals' 4-3 overtime win against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday, Mark, a 2011 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee who played 16 seasons in the NHL and is a former Red Wings scout, noted that Ovechkin looked "a little nervous."
Gordie Howe died in 2016 at age 88.

"I'm sure Alex feels it," Laviolette said. "He certainly doesn't show it. He's very calm and goes about his business every day. I'd be willing to bet he's probably happy when he's past it and just moving on, but inside the room we don't talk about tuning it out. It's not noisy inside the room."
Ovechkin was dangerous from the drop of the puck Thursday, getting a good chance on a shot from the bottom of the left face-off circle that Talbot got a piece of before it sailed by the far post 1:13 into game. He came close to scoring No. 801 when his one-timer from the left circle leaked past Talbot before Sonny Milano knocked it over the goal line to give Washington a 2-1 lead 5:25 into the second period.
Ovechkin's next best chance came on a snap shot from between the circles 9:18 into the third period that Talbot knocked away with his catching glove to keep the score tied 2-2.
"Since the first shift, I have a pretty good chance to score a goal," Ovechkin said. "It's one of those moments where you just have to fight through it and get one and get two."
Ovechkin has 16 shots on goal in the past four games to overtake Bourque, a Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman whose 6,209 shots came during a 22-season NHL career that ended in 2001. So it seems to be a matter of time before two more shots go in, Ovechkin passes Howe and he can move on to chasing Wayne Gretzky's NHL record of 894 goals.
"I'm pretty sure he's thinking about that also, and he's trying his best and sometimes it's just not going in," Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov said. "But I'm pretty sure it will happen at some point."