POSTGAME NOTEBOOK - Knights 4, Caps 3 (OT)

The Great Eight Update - On virtually a nightly basis for the last few seasons, Caps captain Alex Ovechkin is making history. Sometimes, he's tying or breaking rather obscure or esoteric NHL records and on other nights he is merely continuing his inexorable climb toward one of hockey's most hallowed marks, Wayne Gretzky's all-time career goal mark of 894.

Wednesday night in Las Vegas, Ovechkin scored a pair of goals for Washington in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. In doing so, he reached the 50-goal plateau for the ninth time in his NHL career, matching a mark held jointly by Gretzky and the late Mike Bossy, both of whom also had nine seasons with 50 or more goals, three more than anyone else who ever played in the NHL.
With his first goal of Wednesday's game early in the second period, Ovechkin passed Teemu Selanne for most goals in a season by a played aged 36 or older. Selanne scored 48 goals for Anaheim in 2006-07 at the age of 36. When he scored again in the third period, Ovechkin became the oldest player ever to score 50 goals in a season, and he matched the standard set by Bossy and Gretzky for most 50-goal campaigns.
If not for the lockout in 2012-13 and the last two pandemic-abbreviated seasons, Ovechkin might have hit double-digit 50-goal seasons by now. No other active skater in the NHL has more than two 50-goal seasons; both Steven Stamkos and Leon Draisaitl have two.
With a three-point night (two goals, one assist) on Wednesday, Ovechkin reached the 90-point plateau for the sixth time in his career, tying Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid for the most 90-point seasons among active NHL players.
Ovechkin's 90-point season in 2021-22 is his first since he notched 109 points (50 goals, 59 assists) in 2009-10. Ovechkin went a dozen seasons in between 90-point seasons, the second-longest gap in League history. Only Gordie Howe had a longer gap (16 seasons) between 90-point campaigns; Howe won the third of what would be four straight Art Ross Trophies with 95 points (49 goals, 46 assists) in 1952-53, and his next 90-point season was in 1968-69 when he rolled up 103 points (44 goals, 59 assists).
Vegas goaltender Logan Thompson became the 160th different goaltender against which Ovechkin has scored in his NHL career.
With his second goal on Wednesday, Ovechkin recorded his 1,410th career point (780 goals, 630 assists) to pass Dale Hawerchuk (1,409) to move into sole possession of 20th place on the League's all-time scoring ledger.
Finally, Ovechkin's two-goal game on Wednesday was the 158th multi-goal game of his career, tying him with Brett Hull (158) for second most in NHL history. Gretzky tops that chart with 189 multi-goal games in his career.
Two of Ovechkin's Russian teammates - Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov - supplied the primary assists on his two goals in Wednesday's game. Kuznetsov has had 15 primary assists on Ovechkin's 50 goals this season, and Orlov has had four. Kuznetsov has also had five secondary helpers on Ovechkin goals this season, giving him a hand in 40 percent of the Caps' captain's scoring output in 2021-22.
"Those guys know how to play," says Ovechkin. "How I'm always saying, without my teammates and linemates I would never reach those milestones and those goals, so yeah, thanks."
Double Sawbuck - Nick Jensen picked up an assist on Kuznetsov's first-period goal, Jensen's 20th point (five goals, 15 assists) of the season. Jensen has matched his career high for points; he also had 20 points (two goals, 18 assists) in 2018-19, the season in which he was dealt from Detroit to Washington just ahead of the trade deadline.
"I didn't really think about it when it happened," says Jensen. "I love helping out the team and if the points get me there, it's a great achievement. But it's really not my primary goal, my primary goal is winning as a team and making it as far as the playoffs, so that's been the main focus. But obviously those points help us on our way there, so it's always good to see."
The Caps now have four defensemen with 20 or more points, but more significantly, they have six defensemen with 15 or more points for just the second time in franchise history. Back in 1983-84, the Caps had Larry Murphy (49), Scott Stevens (45), Rod Langway (33), Darren Veitch (24), Timo Blomqvist (20) and David Shand (19) all record more than 15 points.
Point Taken -With the standings point they earned in Wednesday's overtime loss, the Caps climbed into a tie for third place in the Metropolitan Division standings with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both the Caps and the Pens have 97 points, and both teams have five games remaining on the schedule. Pittsburgh holds the tiebreaker over Washington by virtue of its total of 40 regulation/overtime victories; the Capitals have 38.
By The Numbers - Jensen led Washington with 24:57 in ice time … Ovechkin led the Caps with six shots on net and nine shot attempts … Tom Wilson led the Caps with six hits … John Carlson led Washington with six blocked shots … Kuznetsov won nine of 14 face-offs (69 percent) … Washington won 14 of 19 first-period draws (74 percent), but the Caps won only 18 of 41 (44 percent) over the remainder of the evening.