Alex Ovechkin continues record climb as Capitals host Red Wings

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin enters Tuesday night’s home game against the Detroit Red Wings eight goals short of becoming the most prolific scorer in NHL history.

Ovechkin has 887 career goals after a tally in Saturday’s 5-1 road win over the San Jose Sharks. He is chasing Wayne Gretzky, who scored 894.

“It’s great. Lots of people are now watching, and lots of attention. It’s a great feeling,” said Ovechkin, who also had an assist and has 34 goals and 21 assists in 51 games this season.

The Capitals, who have the best record in the Eastern Conference, have won six of their last seven games.

Dylan Strome, Aliaksei Protas, Taylor Raddysh and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk also scored for Washington on Saturday as it jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead. Tom Wilson, Lars Eller and Pierre-Luc Dubois each had two assists and Logan Thompson made 19 saves.

“I think we had a pretty good start, all four lines rolling. Holding the puck, making smart decisions,” Ovechkin said.

Added Capitals coach Spencer Carbery: “Second period, I thought we got pushed a little bit. Started to get a little careless in the second. The first period, we knew, in this building, we needed to have a fast start, and that’s exactly what we did.”

It was the last game of a three-game California trip for Washington, which went 2-1-0 on the trek.

Leading scorer Dylan Strome (65 points in 67 games) and Ethen Frank missed practice Monday because of illnesses.

The Red Wings’ 3-0 home win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday was only the second win in their last nine games as the team battles for a wild-card playoff spot.

Petr Mrazek, who made 18 saves in recording the shutout, has been in goal for both of those victories. The veteran goalie, who began his career with Detroit, was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks near the NHL trade deadline on March 7. He was traded from the Red Wings to the Philadelphia Flyers late in 2017-18; the shutout was Mrazek’s 14th for Detroit and first for the Red Wings since Jan. 22, 2018.

His span of 2,611 games between shutouts for Detroit is the fifth-longest span between a goaltender’s shutouts for one team in NHL history.

“Playing three straight games has definitely helped,” Mrazek said. “I hadn’t played for a while, and once you are playing, you get your confidence and swagger back.”

Defenseman Albert Johansson, Lucas Raymond and Marco Kasper scored for the Red Wings. It was Raymond’s first goal in 11 games (Feb. 22). He is Detroit’s leading scorer with 69 points (23 goals, 46 assists) in 67 games.

“At the end of the night, the scoreboard was a really good thing for our team,” Red Wings coach Todd McLelland said. “It was a good night for a lot of our players, which should give us some confidence.”

Detroit’s Patrick Kane, who had an assist, played in his 1,287th game. That moves him past Phil Kessel and into 10th place all-time among United States-born players.

This is the third game between the Red Wings and Capitals this season. Detroit won 4-2 at home on Dec. 29, and Washington came out on top 5-2 at home on March 7.