Alex Ovechkin fired a perfect wrist shot past Calvin Pickard for his first goal of the game, scored from his office on the power play for his second and sailed a shot into an empty net from his own zone to complete the hat trick.

Ovechkin tied Jaromir Jagr’s record with 135 game-winning goals, and the 32nd hat trick of his 20-year NHL career moved him into a tie for fifth with Phil Esposito.

It will still be a tight finish for Ovechkin with just 25 games remaining in the regular season and still needing 14 goals to pass Gretzky.

In the middle frame, the Caps took over the contest. At 8:53, Ovechkin took a feed from Strome on a 3-on-2 rush and whipped it past Calvin Pickard for a 3-1 Washington lead. About 10 minutes later, he took a tee-up from Chychrun and fired one home from his left dot office on the power play, extending the Caps’ lead to 4-1.

Alex Ovechkin delivered his 32nd career hat trick to climb just 13 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL scoring record during a dominant Washington Capitals win over the Edmonton Oilers.

The sellout crowd of 18,753 immediately began to cheer, though, when Pickard skated to Edmonton’s bench, realizing this would provide Ovechkin with an opportunity to move closer to history. The fans then started chanting “Ovi! Ovi!’ while the Capitals defended in their zone.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin fired a perfect wrist shot past Calvin Pickard for his first ... Sunday put Ovechkin 13 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL career record of 894 that long ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin fired a perfect wrist shot past Calvin Pickard for his first goal of the game, scored from his office on the power play for his second and sailed a shot into an ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin fired a perfect wrist shot past Calvin Pickard for his first ... Sunday put Ovechkin 13 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career record of 894 that long ...

WASHINGTON -- Alex Ovechkin fired a perfect wrist shot past Calvin Pickard for his first ... Oilers put Ovechkin 13 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career record of 894 that long seemed ...