Alex Ovechkin handed the Penguins faithful a souvenir during what may turn out to be his last appearance on NHL ice in Pittsburgh.
The marker was Ovechkin's 32nd of the campaign and the 929th he has piled up over his career. During the Saturday matinee he buried it into a vacated cage, helping Washington roll to a 6-3 result.
How Ovechkin reached 929 goals in the NHL
As regulation's final frame wound down, Pittsburgh bench boss Dan Muse lifted netminder Arturs Silovs for an extra attacker. Moments later, Tom Wilson picked off a feed from Pens forward Egor Chinakhov near center ice and slid it toward Ovechkin. What followed was a quick back-and-forth between the two Washington teammates — Ovechkin tried to hand it right back, yet Wilson refused and waved his linemate to fire. The 40-year-old shooter obliged, depositing the disc into the open goal.
That insurance marker bumped Ovechkin's all-time total for empty-net goals up to 72, putting him sixteen clear of Wayne Gretzky (56), who sits second.
His ledger versus the Penguins now stands at 44 goals, 27 of them produced inside PPG Paints Arena — a building total that leads every current player and ranks fourth across league history. Across 82 meetings with Pittsburgh, he has compiled 79 points on 44 goals and 35 assists.
Because Ovechkin intends to hold off on any retirement call until the summer, this could mark his last journey into the rink of his fiercest opponents. Before that, during the same game, the Pittsburgh crowd had saluted his accomplishments with a montage and a lengthy standing ovation, and he was afterward tabbed as the night's First Star.
Speaking with reporters following Washington's 6-3 result over Pittsburgh, Ovechkin downplayed the milestone and stressed that the club would approach things one contest at a time, noting the team still controlled its own fate and simply needed to bank two points the following night.