Oshie missed Ovi's 'amazing' record-tying goal while trying to find Gretzky
Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie missed the moment Alex Ovechkin tied Wayne Gretzky's all-time goal record Friday night, but he had a pretty decent excuse.
"Yeah, I was walking right here, actually, and we heard the roars," a sheepish Oshie said, gesturing to the Capital One Arena hallway where he was talking to Monumental Sports Network's Tarik El-Bashir. "Obviously Wayne's in the building, so a couple of us wanted to head over to (Capitals owner Ted Leonsis') suite and say, 'Hi.' We were like, 'All right, let's sneak down there real quick, the power play just ended.'
"We heard the roars, and we were like, 'No, no way.' We were like, 'Who scored?' And they're like, 'The TV's delayed, I don't know!' So we ran over and saw it. I cannot believe we missed it. But in the building. We were here."
Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, Braden Holtby, Brooks Orpik, and Devante Smith-Pelly were in attendance Friday as the Capitals honored key members of the franchise's fifth era (2014-present) in a pregame ceremony.
Ovechkin matched the Great One with his second tally of the game against the Chicago Blackhawks, and it came on the power play before the midway mark of the third period. Capitals forward Dylan Strome had converted on the man advantage a few minutes earlier, but Chicago took another trip to the box less than 90 seconds later to set the table for Ovechkin.
Though Oshie didn't see that goal in real time, he's had a front-row seat to a fair share of Ovi magic during their nine seasons as teammates. The pair won the Stanley Cup together in 2018, and Oshie assisted on 48 of the Great Eight's tallies.
Oshie has been sidelined all season with a chronic back injury and the future of his playing career is uncertain, but his absence has given him a unique perspective on Ovechkin's "amazing" chase.
"As (his) teammate, you see him passing all these greats, legends of our game, right?" he said. "When you're in it, you're like, 'Oh, let's go, congrats!' You crack a beer and celebrate, but then you go on to the next game, right? You're trying to accomplish something, you're trying to win the Stanley Cup.
"Now, when I'm not playing and watching from afar, you really step back and you're like, 'Gosh, that's a lot of goals.' That's a huge number. To stay healthy enough to even get there - a man speaking from experience - that's hard to do in itself. It was amazing for me and my family to be here tonight."
Eastern Conference-leading Washington has six games remaining on its regular-season schedule. Ovechkin's next chance to break Gretzky's record will come at 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday against the New York Islanders.