Ovechkin takes quest for latest milestones outside at Stadium Series

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Alex Ovechkin will take his chase for 600 goals outside when the Washington Capitals play the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2018 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVAS, NHL.TV).
Ovechkin, 32, needs three goals to become the 20th NHL player to reach 600 and the fourth to do it in fewer than 1,000 games; he would join Wayne Gretzky (718 games), Mario Lemieux (719) and Brett Hull (900), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Ovechkin, who will be playing his 986th NHL game, would love to get the milestone while much of the hockey world is watching, but knows the Maple Leafs will have some say in that.

"I don't know," Ovechkin said. "I don't know if they'll allow me to score right now. We'll see."
Getting a hat trick Saturday won't be easy, but Ovechkin already has three this season and a Capitals-record 20 in his career, including one at Air Canada Centre on Nov. 25, the last time he played the Maple Leafs.
Ovechkin leads the NHL with 39 goals and needs one more to reach 40 for the ninth time in his 13 NHL seasons. He would become the sixth player in League history to score 40 or more goals in at least nine seasons, joining Gretzky (12), Marcel Dionne (10), Mario Lemieux (10), Mike Bossy (nine) and Mike Gartner (nine).
Ovechkin also is on pace to score 50 goals for the eighth time. Gretzky and Bossy are the only NHL players with more 50-goal seasons; each has nine.
Ovechkin said scoring 50 goals again would have more meaning to him than the 600-goal milestone.
"But if I want to score 50, I have to pass 600," Ovechkin said. "So it's big numbers, 600 and 50. Those are all pretty cool. But, again, you don't have to think about it too much. You just have to play."

Ovechkin would be the fifth NHL player to score 50 or more in a season after his 32nd birthday, according to Elias, and the first since Jaromir Jagr with the New York Rangers in 2005-06; Jagr turned 34 during that season, when he finished with 54. Ovechkin also would be the oldest player to the lead the NHL in goals (based on age on the final day of the season) since Phil Esposito, who was 33 when he was first with 61 goals in 1974-75.
"It's amazing where he's at, how many goals he's scored, how many ways he's scored goals," Capitals forward T.J. Oshie said. "We all know he's got his office on the power play over there [in the left circle]. But there's so many other ways that he's able to score goals, whether it's by himself, by supporting other guys, by sometimes just whipping pucks at the net. It seems like he has a magic touch that [his shot] can find a corner or find a hole.
"In this day and age, personally, I'm in awe of how many goals he has and how consistent he's been able to do it."