With his overtime goal on Thursday, Alex Ovechkin has now scored against 179 different goalies in his NHL career — more than any other player.

At the age of 39 and 21 goals away from passing Wayne Gretzky, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin has the best goal-scoring pace in the NHL. Ovechkin has 21 goals in 29 games, including six in 11 games since returning from a broken leg that held him out for 40 days.

The 39-year-old winger took a pass from Rasmus Sandin on a 2-on-1 breakaway and fired it past rookie Leevi Merilainen, the record 179th goaltender he's scored on.

Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] Jan. 10 1980 — Goaltender Jim Stewart, in his first and only game with the Boston Bruins ... 1989 — LA Kings center Wayne Gretzky becomes NHL’s all-time leading scorer in combined ...

But, instead of escaping Ottawa with a momentum-building win, the Bruins left with a disappointing result instead. After leading 5-3 late, Boston allowed the Senators to score two goals with their ...

Wayne Gretzky scored 894 goals in 1,487 career NHL games. Alex Ovechkin is poised to shatter that record, having scored 872 times in 1,451 games through Wednesday night. That's a combined 2,938 ...

1980 — Goaltender Jim Stewart, in his first and only game with the Boston Bruins ... 1989 — LA Kings center Wayne Gretzky becomes NHL’s all-time leading scorer in combined regular season ...

1980 — Goaltender Jim Stewart, in his first and only game with the Boston Bruins ... 1989 — LA Kings center Wayne Gretzky becomes NHL’s all-time leading scorer in combined regular season ...

A team within the Metropolitan Division has gotten in touch with the New York Islanders about a key forward on the trade block.

EDMONTON -- Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist for the Washington Capitals, who won 3-2 against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Tuesday. Matt Roy and Tom Wilson also scored, and Logan Thompson made 31 saves for the Capitals (32-10-5), who have won five in a row and earned points in 11 straight games (8-0-3).

Rather than ice a roster merely helping Ovi break Gretzky's record, the Caps have been one of the NHL's best. Here's how they threaded the needle.