Alex Ovechkin scored his 885th career goal against the New York Rangers on Wednesday, bringing him to within 10 of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record.
While that’s fun in its own right, there was also an accomplishment inside that accomplishment.
Andrew Mangiapane assisted on his first Ovechkin goal since joining Washington this summer and his reaction was flat out giddy. The Capitals captured Mangiapane’s celebratory words in the goal hug with Ovechkin mic’d up during the game.
“YEAHHHHHH!” Ovechkin screams after scoring. “YEAHHHHH! YES!!”
Mangiapane then skated over to his four other teammates and yelled, “I’m a part of history! I’m a part of history!”
The former Flames forward earned the primary assist on Ovechkin’s third period, power-play goal, after losing control of the puck while trying to stick-handle near the crease. Ovechkin saw the play developing and got to the loose biscuit first, beating Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin short side with a lightning-fast shot.
Ethen Frank was later awarded his first assist on an Ovechkin goal as well, earning a secondary assist after briefly touching Connor McMichael’s no-look pass from the side boards. The scoring change took away what would have been McMichael’s third assist on an Ovechkin goal this season.
Mangiapane’s reaction is direct evidence of how Ovechkin’s chase of history is motivating the Capitals in subtle ways behind the scenes.
“We honestly don’t talk about it, I’m not just saying this, at all,” Spencer Carbery said during the 4 Nations Face-Off break in February. “Now, where I would say it comes into play is there is a little added excitement of what’s going on that everybody can feel. Especially when he scores, and we’re not oblivious to it. We know what’s going on. It doesn’t play into anything we’re planning objective-wise, but I think it does add one more notch of guys being hungry, excited, trying to find ways to recover more pucks on the power play so we can be effective. Whatever it might be, I think it gives us a little more juice.”