Alex Ovechkin scored his 840th career goal and added an assist as the Washington Capitals drilled the reeling Pittsburgh Penguins 6-0 on Thursday night.
Ovechkin’s two points pushed him past Hall of Fame defenseman Paul Coffey and into 15th on the NHL’s career scoring list. The Russian superstar has 1,532 career points, one shy of Hall of Fame forward Mark Recchi in 14th.
The 38-year-old’s 10th goal in his last 15 games — a rebound early in the second period that put Washington firmly in control — moved him to within 54 goals of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record career total of 894.
Tom Wilson scored a short-handed goal less than two minutes into the game and added an assist for Washington. Nick Jensen, Sonny Milano and rookies Hendrix Lapierre and Ivan Miroshnichenko also scored for the Capitals, who won for the sixth time in nine games as they try to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Charlie Lindgren, who got the start with Darcy Keumper out with an illness, made 39 saves for his sixth career shutout.
Tristan Jarry was pulled in the second period after allowing four goals on 22 shots as the Penguins lost for the fourth time in five games to further dim their fading postseason hopes. Sidney Crosby was held without a point for a third straight game, the first time that’s happened this season.
Pittsburgh figures to be a seller before Friday’s trade deadline, with star forward Jake Guentzel potentially heading to Metropolitan Division rival Carolina. Guentzel might not be the only player on the move as the NHL’s oldest team tries to get younger and point toward 2024-25 with this season appearing to be a lost cause with 21 games to go.
The Penguins are mired near the bottom of the standings thanks in large part to a power play that ranks 28th in the league and has shown a propensity to surrender short-handed goals.
Pittsburgh began the night having allowed nine goals while playing with the man advantage this season, the third-highest total in the NHL. Wilson made that 10 just 1:51 into the game when he finished off a two-on-one by batting a rebound out of midair past Jarry.
Ovechkin scored his 36th career regular-season goal against Pittsburgh when he jammed the puck by Jarry 30 seconds into the second. Jensen followed less than three minutes later with his first goal since last April to make it 3-0. When the 22-year-old Lapierre’s spin-around shot from the slot beat Jarry to extend the advantage to 4-0, Jarry headed to the bench.
The 20-year-old Miroshnichenko scored his first career goal later in the period with a nifty move by a sprawled Alex Nedeljkovic as Washington showcased some of the fresh young legs it hopes can help the club make a push over the final month of the season.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.
