Ovechkin, along with his wife, Nastya, and his two children, Sergei and Ilya, vacationed in Dubai along with some of his extended family and friends. "Break was great," the 40-year-old Ovechkin said after Tuesday's skate. "Kind of a long flight, but worth it. Some times with family, friends. Don't think about hockey, don't think about the world." There was one other thing Ovechkin didn't think about. When asked if he had been watching the Olympics at all, Ovechkin replied "no" and ended the press conference.
"Ay, you guys have been really good to me here in this room," Stevenson said. "You picked me up after that tough third one. And, you know, we shut it down, and we got the job done. A lot of good stuff, a lot of blocked shots. Let's go, baby!"
LeBron James, whom Ovechkin first met in 2009, played in what could be his final game in DC and made sure to dap up The Great 8 during the Lakers' 142-111 blowout victory. Monumental Sports Network reporter Ethan Cadeaux caught the brief interaction between two of the greatest athletes of all time. Ovechkin and James then met up postgame, where they exchanged autographed jerseys.
Ovechkin scored the 919th goal of his career on a third-period power play, beating Seattle Kraken Philipp Grubauer. The 40-year-old winger was the beneficiary of a pinpoint passing play between Jakob Chychrun and Ryan Leonard, sweeping the puck into the yawning net at the far post. Ovechkin's goal, his 22nd of the season, made the score 3-1 Seattle with 17:30 remaining in regulation.
Ovechkin's fourth Funko POP!, a Fanatics exclusive figurine, celebrates the Capitals legend becoming the NHL's all-time goals leader and features The Great 8's exclusive logo on the white, black, and gold box. The figure itself is aggressively grey-haired and grey-bearded. The details are nailed as the Figvechkin sports his trademark gap-toothed smile, wears his Capitals' 50th anniversary away jersey, and rocks his yellow laces on his skates.
The tally, his 15th of the 2025-26 season, tied the game 3-3, and the Washington Capitals eventually proved victorious in overtime via a clutch marker from Jakob Chychrun. By scoring his 15th goal in his 38th game of the campaign, Ovechkin became the fifth-fastest player aged 40-or-older to score 15 goals in an NHL season. He also moved past Steve Yzerman (14) for the 11th-most goals scored in an age-40 season.
It's important that at his age and where he's at in his career, I think I said this early in the season, it's not about quantity. It's about quality with Alex. And sometimes, as someone who's played so much his entire career and been on the ice in every situation, it's not an easy pill to swallow. But that's what we're looking for from O, so I'll try to always manage his minutes and pay attention to it.
It's a good thing that they still remember me and they still recognize me," Ovechkin said. "A couple of kids (told me) congrats about the record and the 900, so that's special.
Alex Ovechkin is the greatest goal scorer in NHL history and one of the league's all-time greatest players. The 40-year-old legendary winger would seemingly have every reason to become aloof and withdrawn from his teammates, but he has done the complete opposite and continued to foster a winning environment with the Washington Capitals. Bruce Boudreau, who coached a much younger Ovechkin for parts of five seasons with the Capitals (2007-2012), has seen firsthand the impact The Great 8 has had on the club's culture.
Upper Deck, the NHL's exclusive trading card partner, is putting out their most expensive, premium card box of the year, "2024-25 The Cup," on Wednesday. In this year's product, several of hockey's most legendary players will have one-of-one Exquisite patch autographs scattered throughout the thousands of boxes produced, and Ovechkin's, in particular, is super special.
It's safe to say Alex Ovechkin is back to being Alex Ovechkin after a slow start to the season, where he scored just three goals in his first 15 games. Ovechkin has 9 goals in his last 11 outings and found the back of the net again Sunday against the New York Islanders. The Capitals captain scored an empty-net goal with 31 seconds remaining in the game, skating through an Adam Pelech poke-check for his 909th career goal.
Alex Ovechkin: Yeah, obviously it feels pretty special. A special moment. No one in history done it. To be first guy to score 900, it's pretty special moment and obviously we're going to celebrate with the teammates. Most important thing, like, my mom here, my wife, kids, and yeah, it's going to be special moment.
