Ovechkin has some work to do to get there, but he's showing no signs of slowing down. He had hat tricks in consecutive games for the third time in as many seasons by scoring three goals against the New Jersey Devils in Jan. 16 and three more against the New York Islanders two days later.
Scoring six goals in two games moved Ovechkin within two of
Mark Messier
(694) for eighth and left him eight away from becoming the eighth player to score 700. He would join Gretzky (894), Howe (801),
Jaromir Jagr
(766),
Brett Hull
(741),
Marcel Dionne
(731),
Phil Esposito
(717) and
Mike Gartner
(708) in that exclusive club.
"From the day he came into the game, into the National Hockey League, we knew what he was," Gretzky said. "He was just a hard-working guy who loved to score goals. Everybody loves to score goals. The two, three guys that I always remembered seemed to love it more than anybody were Brett Hull,
Mike Bossy
and
Luc Robitaille
, and Alex has that fire. He gets around the net and he just loves to score."
Ovechkin is three goals behind David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins, who leads the NHL with 37, and is on pace to finish with 56, which would be his ninth season with at least 50 goals and tie him with Gretzky and Bossy for the most 50-goal seasons in League history. Ovechkin would also become the second-oldest player in League history to have a 50-goal season, behind only
Johnny Bucyk
, who was 35 when he scored 51 for the Bruins in 1970-71.
"I was telling some kids yesterday, I spoke at a kids' school, and I said, 'What makes Alex so good is what Brett Hull and Mike Bossy had. He doesn't miss the net,'" Gretzky said. "He gives himself a chance to score every time. What he's done is really tremendous for the game, for the Capitals, for his home country of Russia. I think it's wonderful."