WASHINGTON -- Alex Ovechkin scored his 880th, 881st and 882nd career goals to record a hat trick and move 13 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL record and give the Washington Capitals a 7-3 victory over Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday, moving back atop the league standings.
Ovechkin beat Calvin Pickard clean with a wrist shot just before the midway mark of the second period off a pass from linemate Dylan Strome for his first of the game. He got his second on the power play 10 minutes later and put the puck into an empty net with 2:38 left for his third.