“He’s a machine,” Paul Bissonnette showers praise on Alex Ovechkin as Capitals captain scores 32nd career hat trick in 7-3 win over Oilers

Alex Ovechkin is now 13 goals away from breaking the record of Wayne Gretzky following his 32nd career hat trick.

“He’s a machine,” Paul Bissonnette showers praise on Alex Ovechkin as Capitals captain scores 32nd career hat trick in 7-3 win over Oilers

Alex Ovechkin and Paul Bissonnette (Image via Imago)

It seems there is no stopping Alex Ovechkin this season. The Washington Capitals captain scored his 32nd career hattrick in his team’s 7-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday. After the game, Paul Bissonnette would shower heavy praise on the veteran forward.

This season, “The Great Eight” has been on a mission. That mission is to break the all-time goal-scoring record of Wayne Gretzky. “The Great One” leads the list for the most goals scored in NHL history with 894.

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After scoring twice in the second period, Ovechkin was looking at a hat trick. In the previous game, the Capitals outclassed their rivals Pittsburgh Penguins 8-3. Surprisingly, he failed to score in this high-scoring match.

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With the Oilers 6-3 down in the third period, they would pull off their goaltender with less than 3 minutes left on the clock. Just moments after they had put an extra man in attack, Ty Emberson would have an unlucky break as his stick broke in half while trying to play the puck forward.

The puck would fall kindly for Ovechkin though. The Russian forward made no mistake in slotting it past the two defensemen into an empty net to complete his hat trick. Following this performance from him, NHL analyst Paul Bissonnette lauded him on X and called him a “machine“.

Ovi just refuses to stop scoring goals. He’s a machine.

Paul Bissonnette on X

Ovechkin now sits at 882 goals after this hat trick on Sunday. He is now 12 goals away from tying the record and 13 away from breaking it. It was also his 29th goal of the season and is now 7th in the standings for the most goals scored by an individual player this season.

Alex Ovechkin unfocused on goal scoring record of Wayne Gretzky following hat trick against Oilers

Ever since Alex Ovechkin scored his 800th goal, there have been people waiting to see if he could get close to that record of Wayne Gretzky. His latest hat trick has put him even closer to the former Edmonton Oilers captain. He though seems to be unfocused on this record at the moment.

Alex Ovechkin
Alex Ovechkin (Image via Imago)

While speaking to the media after the game, the 39-year-old deflected the question on if he could hit 895 goals before the regular season comes to an end.

Game by game. Today I had pretty good chances to score more, but I’ll take three.

Alex Ovechkin said as per NHL.com

Given the pace he is scoring at the moment, Ovechkin is projected to break the goal-scoring record in the month of April. Projections have highlighted the April 4 game against the Chicago Blackhawks as the day where he could script history.

His main focus though right now is the team performance. With two back-to-back big wins, the Washington Capitals are 1st in the Metropolitan Division standings with a 38-11-8 record.