WASHINGTON — The Blackhawks turned part of historical past Friday, however not in a means they’ll rejoice.
Alex Ovechkin scored his 893rd and 894th profession targets within the Capitals’ 5-3 win over the Hawks to tie Wayne Gretzky’s NHL report.
The one solace for the Hawks may be that they prevented him from notching his 895th. Ovechkin’s power-play blast early within the third interval will probably be replayed many instances in future spotlight packages, however his subsequent aim will doubtless surpass it when it comes to everlasting fame.
Hawks goalie Spencer Knight, given the unenviable job of beginning on such a extremely anticipated evening, nonetheless turns into a hockey trivia reply value remembering.
Gretzky, in attendance Friday alongside NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, mentioned he was “so blissful” for Ovechkin and the league, which had closely promoted the drama of this report chase.
“Alex mentioned, ‘Don’t [come] right here till I get to 2 [goals away],” Gretzky mentioned. “I assumed yesterday, ‘Gosh, we higher get on the airplane and stand up there, as a result of he would possibly get three tonight.’ When he scored 4 minutes in, I assumed, ‘Oh my God, we would have the ability to depart after the primary interval.’
“My grandfather was Russian; he’d be actually blissful {that a} Russian broke my report. So good for Alex.”
The Hawks, as they’ve so many instances this season, let a possibility to generate a feed-good second slip away, blowing a 3-2 lead on the second intermission.
There was, nonetheless, loads of respect for Ovechkin’s greatness of their locker room Friday morning, and the sport end result definitely didn’t change that.
“I’m an enormous historian of hockey, so I feel we should always honor the very fact this can be a fairly unbelievable milestone,” mentioned Hawks captain Nick Foligno, who has confronted Ovechkin 46 instances all through his profession, earlier than the sport. “These are moments in time the place you get to see gamers turn into legends within the league. He’s already one, however this can be a fairly unbelievable quantity that he’s reaching.
“The largest factor I take away from ‘Ovi’ is his ardour: When he scores, he’s genuinely excited. I feel generally that’s misplaced within the gamers now, the place I don’t see as a lot pleasure. This man has carried out it [nearly] 900 instances, and he’s nonetheless as excited as his first one. There’s one thing to be mentioned about that. Once you love to attain targets, it attracts these to you.”
Nights like Friday present stark reminders of how distant the Hawks are from with the ability to compete with the league’s finest. They put up an excellent combat at instances, however they appeared like little greater than fodder for the house crew’s present at different instances.
Common supervisor Kyle Davidson’s imaginative and prescient to — and expectation that he’ll — construct this torn-down group again right into a Stanley Cup contender years down the highway will be troublesome to think about throughout moments like these, whatever the promise of their many younger gamers and prospects.
However these younger gamers no less than gained expertise in a high-intensity, high-pressure, playoff-like setting Friday, regardless that it didn’t go properly.
