Washington Capitals left winger Alexander Ovechkin recorded his 32nd National Hockey League hat trick on Sunday. He accomplished the feat in a 5-2 Capitals win over the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
Inside Look at Ovechkin’s three goals
Ovechkin had one goal in all three periods. He opened the scoring at 5:59 of the first period on the power-play from defenseman John Carlson of Natick, Massachusetts and Dylan Strome of Mississauga, Ontario. Ovechkin then put the Capitals up 4-2 from defenseman Matt Roy of Detroit, Michigan with two minutes and 22 seconds left in the second period, and finished the scoring with an empty net goal 37 seconds left in the game from Aliaksei Protas of Vitebsk, Belarus and defenseman Martin Fehervary of Bratislava, Slovakia.
This was Ovechkin’s first NHL hat trick against the Golden Knights. He has now had a hat trick against 19 of the National Hockey League’s 31 teams he has played against. Remember, due to the fact he has played his entire career with the Washington Capitals, he has never had a hat trick against Washington.
Ovechkin now has 31 regular season hat tricks and 32 overall, as one three goal game came against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Ovechkin’s 31 regular hat tricks are sixth all-time. He is only behind Wayne Gretzky (50), Mario Lemieux (40), Mike Bossy (39), Brett Hull (33), and Phil Esposito (32).
Ovechkin in 2024-25
Ovechkin leads the NHL this season with 13 goals. He is tied with Sam Reinhart of the Florida Panthers and Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers. He also has 10 assists, 23 points, is a +13 with six penalty minutes, six power-play points, two game winning goals, 60 shots on goal, three blocked shots, 43 hits, six takeaways, and 10 giveaways.
Ovechkin’s first game-winning goal this season came on November 6 in a 3-2 Capitals win over the Nashville Predators. Ovechkin scored from Strome and Fehervary at 10:25 of the third period to break a 2-2 tie.
Ovechkin’s second game-winning goal this season came on November 9 in an 8-1 Capitals triumph over the St. Louis Blues. Ovechkin scored from Protas and Strome at 7:42 of the second period to break a 1-1 tie, and put the Capitals up 2-1.
Closer to Gretzky
Ovechkin now has 866 career goals. That is second all-time behind Gretzky, who has 894 goals.
Third in the Metropolitan
The Capitals are at 12 wins, four regulation losses and one loss in extra time for 25 points. They are in third place in the Metropolitan Division and one point back of the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils.
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