Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin becomes the 60th NHL player to record 700 career assists

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin is the 60th player in NHL history to record 700 career assists, reaching the milestone with his second point Tuesday night in the Washington Capitals’ 4-2 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Ovechkin had a secondary assist on Tom Wilson’s power-play goal early in the second period, then set up linemate Aliaksei Protas a few minutes later.

“He makes that play happen on that goal,” coach Spencer Carbery said. “Great job using his feet, cuts back, finds space. That’s a huge play in that moment.”

A montage of his assists played on arena video boards at the ensuing timeout, and Ovechkin waved to fans who gave him a standing ovation.

“It’s because of lots of shots, lots of rebounds coming from the net, so I’ll take it,” Ovechkin said.

Second on the career goal-scoring list with 853, Ovechkin has three assists through his first two games of the season. The 39-year-old winger is 42 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record that long seemed unapproachable.

Ovechkin is the sixth player with 700 goals and 700 assists, joining Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Jaromir Jagr, Marcel Dionne and Phil Esposito. He credited playing 20 years in the league for his latest accomplishment.

“It’s a pretty big number,” Ovechkin said. “Nice to be in that company.”

Ovechkin would need 1,263 more assists to tie Gretzky, the “Great One,” who has more assists than anyone else in hockey has points.

The second game of the season came with the 39-year-old playing some right wing, shifting from the left side that has been his position for the vast majority of his career. He acknowledged it was difficult to adjust at first.

“You adjust, neutral zone, defensive zone, and especially in the offensive zone you’re moving around,” Ovechkin said. “It doesn’t matter for me. First couple shifts were kind of like, ‘Whoa.’ It’s always like I wanted to go to the left side. But we’ll see how it goes.”

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