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.

Alex Ovechkin had so many chance to score in the Washington Capitals’ rout of the Edmonton Oilers that he joked, “I’ll take three.”

Five charts how close Alex Ovechkin is to overtaking Wayne Gretzky's career goal scoring title and how both dominated the NHL.

Macklin Celebrini has 40 points (17 goals, 23 assists) in 45 games for the Sharks (15-35-7) and is two behind Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson (42 points; three goals, 39 assists) for the NHL rookie scoring lead.

Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin secured his 32nd career hat trick on Sunday, pushing him closer to Wayne Gretzky's goals record.

The 39-year-old Ovechkin is within striking distance of Wayne Gretzky's all-time NHL goals record of 894. "The Great One" scored his final goal on March 29, 1999. "The Great Eight" could very well surpass that mark 26 years later.

The Edmonton Oilers are a good hockey team. Led by supernova stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton pushed the Florida Panthers to a seventh game in last year’s Stanley Cup finals and entered Sunday afternoon’s game at Capital One Arena in fifth place in the NHL.

Forward Jesper Bratt can extend his point streak to nine games when the Devils (31-20-6) host the Stars (35-18-2). The New Jersey forward has 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) on an eight-game streak. Dallas is second in the Central Division, two points ahead of the Minnesota Wild.

Yet Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin is closing in on that Gretzky record. The Capitals drafted him with the first overall pick in the 2004 NHL Draft and he has been in the NHL since