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Alex Ovechkin closes in on NHL record with career goal No. 890

AP photo by Nick Wass / Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin celebrates with his son Sergei after scoring a goal during the third period of Sunday night's home game against the Buffalo Sabres.
AP photo by Nick Wass / Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin celebrates with his son Sergei after scoring a goal during the third period of Sunday night's home game against the Buffalo Sabres. AP photo by Nick Wass / Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin celebrates with his son Sergei after scoring a goal during the third period of Sunday night's home game against the Buffalo Sabres.

By The Associated Press 2 min read

WASHINGTON — For Alex Ovechkin, scoring the 890th goal of his career wasn’t such a sweet moment.

In fact, moving five goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record didn’t matter much to the 39-year-old winger after his Washington Capitals lost 8-5 to the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.

“Right now, we lost three in a row,” Ovechkin said. “It’s a good thing it happens right now and not in the playoffs, but we just have to bounce back and find a way to win the games.”

Ovechkin scored at 9:11 of the third period, deflecting Rasmus Sandin’s shot past James Reimer to pull Washington within two.

Though the Capitals were able to pull within one and seemed to kick their game into higher gear after his goal, Ovechkin said it was Aliaksei Protas’ shorthanded tally at the start of the period that sparked the rally.