"It means a lot," Ovechkin said. "When you start playing hockey, when you come to the NHL, you never thought you'd be in that position with those names.
"It's a special moment with my parents, my wife, kids, obviously."
Ovechkin scored 10:19 into the first period to tie the game 1-1. His 12th goal of the season was a wrist shot against goalie Joonas Korpisalo after Columbus took a 1-0 lead at 2:33.
Washington won 4-3
.
"Obviously, we didn't have a good start," Ovechkin told NBC Sports Washington between periods. "They were jumping pretty hard. Good job by [goalie Ilya Samsonov] keeping us in the game, and obviously, you know, we take that goal and move forward."
Ovechkin tied Hull with No. 741 in a 5-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres in Washington on Monday.
"Alex, congratulations on moving into No. 4 on the all-time goal-scoring list," Hull said. "I have a great friend Wayne Gretzky, and he has a saying whenever he makes a long putt or a great shot on the golf course, and he says, 'You have to earn to your nickname.' Well, Alex, 'The Great 8,' you have lived up to your nickname and more. Congratulations again, keep climbing that ladder, and I wish you nothing but success. Way to go."
Ovechkin has played 1,211 regular-season games during 17 seasons with Washington, which selected him with the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NHL Draft. Hull played 1,269 regular-season games in 19 NHL seasons with the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Phoenix Coyotes before retiring in 2005.
"He's worked and he sets the tone for our team," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said of Ovechkin. "He probably could have more [goals] today than it was. He was firing. What he's done is incredible. He won't stop. He'll keep pushing."
Ovechkin passed Marcel Dionne for fifth in NHL goals by scoring No. 731 and No. 732 in a 5-1 season-opening win against the New York Rangers on Oct. 13.
Ovechkin needs to score 37 goals this season to pass Jaromir Jagr (766) for third in NHL history, behind Gordie Howe (801) and Gretzky, who is first with 894.
"Well, let's don't jump ahead," Ovechkin said when asked about catching Jagr. "We have to get [past Hull] first and then we are going to talk about it."
Gretzky said again before this season that he believes Ovechkin can break his record.
"First of all, he's definitely got a legitimate shot," said Gretzky, a studio analyst for the "NHL on TNT." "... He's got a great opportunity. He's on a good team. He plays with really good centermen. He enjoys playing and loves playing in Washington. So he just has to be himself, go out there and play hard like he does every night."
NHL.com independent correspondent Craig Merz contributed to this report
