Alex Ovechkin’s Vegas Hat Trick Shouldn’t Have Been Possible
Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
The Vegas Golden Knights fell on Sunday night by a score of 5-2 to the Washington Capitals on Sunday night. There’s a lot to talk about — Logan Thompson getting his revenge win with 40 stops, or how hard scoring seems without Mark Stone — but this is one of those tip-your-cap moments where, folks, you just gotta give it to Ovi.
Alex Ovechkin's hat trick puts him only 29 goals away from securing the top spot on the all-time NHL goals list! 👀
Hat Trick Challenge presented by @AstraZenecaUS pic.twitter.com/cKK1xnLJQ2
— NHL (@NHL) November 18, 2024
“All-Time Great Is Great” is kind of a silly observation, but as much as it sucks to be on this end of Alex Ovechkin‘s rampage toward Wayne Gretzky‘s all-time goals record… you still have to say “Wow.” Ovechkin’s hat trick made him the 15th-oldest player to record the feat, at 39 years and 61 days old. It’s the first time since 2019 that a player in their age-39 season has scored a hatty (Joe Thornton) and the seventh time it’s happened this decade.
And it’s not like Vegas has been super generous to old-timers in their short history. Ovechkin’s goals made him the sixth, fifth, and fourth-oldest player to score on the Golden Knights through franchise history. Shoutout to Joe Thornton (who scored on Vegas at 39 years, 259 days), Patrick Marleau (39 years, 152 days), and Joe Pavelski (39 years, 98 days).
After hanging three on the Knights, Ovechkin has 13 goals in 17 games. That was unthinkable a year ago, when he had just five goals in 15 games last November 18, and looked absolutely washed with eight goals in his first 43 games. On January 24, he sat at 830 goals — a long 64 away from Gretzky’s magical 894 mark.
Since then, Ovi has closed more than half that gap in 53 games, potting 36 goals — a 56-goal pace over 82 games that’d match the second-best single-season total of his career. As it stands, he’s already got the 36th-most goals by a 39-year-old NHLer, with 65 left to play. It feels like he’s a lock to at least get a 30-goal season, which would put him second all-time. He might beat Gordie Howe‘s record of 39 goals for a 39-year-old.
It’s just stupid, and it doesn’t seem possible, but it clearly is.
Look, sometimes you have to accept being on the ass end of history, and as far as that goes, getting dunked on by an ancient Ovi is on the cooler end of the spectrum.
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