WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin scoring to hand the Predators another defeat and keep his Capitals rolling was not surprising to the folks on the other side who have seen him a lot over the years.
“You knew it was coming,” said Predators coach Andrew Brunette, whose final seven seasons as a player overlapped with Ovechkin’s first seven in the NHL. “You’re on the bench, and I guess I’ve seen him too many times. I’ve played against him, I’ve coached against him, I’ve watched him, and he just finds that, and when it’s on his stick, it’s gone.
“That’s a big-time shot from obviously arguably the greatest goal scorer of all time.”
Ovechkin, 39, is now six away from breaking Jaromir Jagr’s record for the most career game-winning goals. His 130th helped the Capitals improve to 9-3-0 with a 3-2 victory and sent the Predators to their ninth loss in 13 games.
“A guy that is still producing at this age is impressive,” Predators forward Steven Stamkos said. “To keep doing it at this age is very impressive.”
Ovechkin has six goals in his past five games to reach 861 for his career. He is 34 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s career mark that for decades had seemed unapproachable.
Washington’s longtime captain also became the third player age 39 or older to score in five or more consecutive games, joining Johnny Bucyk in 1974 and Brett Hull in 2003.
“He’s going to go down as the guy with the most goals ever at some point here,” Stamkos said. “He’s just a generational goal scorer and a guy that I’ve always looked up to in terms of how he scores goals. It’s the hardest thing to do in the NHL is score, and he’s found a way to do it better than, soon, anyone ever.”
Ovechkin continued his streak of scoring in every game the Capitals wear their black “Screaming Eagle” jersey, on this occasion the first time in their 50th season. The player known as the “Great Eight” is 8-for-8 in this uniform.
“I don’t know the stats, but I love this jersey,” Ovechkin said. “Fans love it, so it’s pretty cool.”
Ovechkin set up Aliaksei Protas earlier in the game and has eight goals and eight assists this season.
“I’m always having fun,” Ovechkin said. “But when you’re winning games, when you’re producing opportunities to have a chance to score goals, it’s always fun to play.”