LAS VEGAS — – Alex Ovechkin scored three goals Sunday night to continue his quest to break Wayne Gretzky’s career record, and former Golden Knight Logan Thompson saved 40 shots in his first game at T-Mobile Arena as the Washington Capitals defeated Vegas by 5 -2 defeated .

Jakob Chychrun and Jakub Vrana also scored goals for the Capitals, and Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas each had two assists.

Brett Howden and Keegan Kolesar scored for the Golden Knights and Ilya Samsonov stopped 20 shots.

Ovechkin now has 866 goals, 29 of which came courtesy of surpassing The Great One as the NHL career leader. It was his 31st career hat trick and his 176th career multi-goal game, behind only Gretzky’s 189. Ovechkin also extended his record to 315 power play goals.

Both goals were also his first against former Capitals goalie Samsonov.

Midway through the first period, the Golden Knights played a video tribute to Thompson, who played for the club from 2021-2024. He appeared emotional as the crowd roared and tapped his heart repeatedly.

Vegas’ loss still left coach Bruce Cassidy one win away from 400.

Takeaways

Capitals: Thompson is 2-0 against his former team this season, saving 64 of 68 shots.

Golden Knights: Jack Eichel extended his point streak to six games. He has recorded two goals and ten assists in that stretch.

Key moment

Ovechkin showed he’s not just an offensive player, saving a goal in the second period when he got his stick on Ivan Barbashev’s open net shot. That allowed the Capitals to stay ahead 3-2.

Key stat

The Capitals were winless in six previous regular season trips to T-Mobile before this game. Washington, of course, won the 2018 Stanley Cup in this arena.

Next

The Capitals visit Utah on Monday to wrap up the three-game road swing. The Golden Knights visit Toronto on Wednesday to open a five-game road trip.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl