BOSTON — Alex Ovechkin is a hat-trick away.

The Washington Capitals forward scored goal No 891 of his career on Tuesday night, leaving him three away from tying Wayne Gretzky's NHL record, and four from becoming the league's all-time leading goalscorer.

Only a missed empty-netter in the final minutes of the Capitals' 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins kept Ovechkin from getting even closer.

"It's getting close," Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. "You can feel it. You can definitely feel it."

"If that empty-netter ... " he said, his words trailing off as he broke into a smile. "Yeah, it's getting close."

A three-time NHL MVP who has led the league in goals nine times, Ovechkin missed six weeks this fall with a broken left leg, but has scored 12 goals in his last 18 games to get back onto a record-breaking pace. He has 38 goals in 58 games, a rate that would put him over the top in the Capitals' penultimate game of the regular season on April 15 at the New York Islanders.

"I go back to when he was injured and out for a while. When that happened, everyone was kind of thinking to themselves whether or not it was going to be possible," goalie Charlie Lindgren said.

"But, anything's possible with Alex Ovechkin. We've seen that this far," Lindgren said. "We've got eight games to go, and the best thing about it is, it doesn't feel like there's any pressure at all. And the team's enjoying it."

Washington trailed 1-0 with about four minutes left in the first period, when John Carlson passed the puck toward the net and Dylan Strome redirected it across the crease. Ovechkin easily pushed into the open half of the net for power-play goal No 322 — already an NHL record. Ovechkin pumped both arms before joining his teammates in a celebratory hug. Afterward, he downplayed the importance of the goal.

"A goal is a goal," he said. "It was a great play by Stromer and Carly."

The Boston crowd gave a mixed cheer for the visiting Capitals. The Bruins, who lost their ninth straight game, have already fired their coach and are likely to miss the playoffs for the first since 2016, so many fans — more than a few of them in Ovechkin jerseys — were likely there to see history in progress.

Ovechkin had a pretty good chance at No 892 with about a minute left, when he collected a puck near the Bruins blue line, spun and fired far wide of the empty net. Instead, he finished the night with 38 goals this season — still on track to reach 40 for a 14th time, also the most in league history

"He's one of a kind, and it's fun to see him get some goals, for sure," said Washington forward Ryan Leonard, who was playing for Boston College on Sunday night and made his NHL debut as Ovechkin's teammate on Tuesday.

"If you had told me this a couple of years ago, it just wouldn't be real," he said. "Honestly, I really don't know what to say to that. It's just really cool, and I'm just trying to embrace the moment."

Blues win 10 straight

In St Louis, Cam Fowler scored with 1:34 remaining in overtime, and the St Louis Blues won their 10th straight game, 2-1 over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night.

Jordan Kyrou also scored and Jordan Binnington made 20 saves for St Louis, which moved into a tie with idle Minnesota for the first Western Conference wild-card spot with 88 points. Minnesota holds the tiebreaker with one more regulation and overtime win.

J.T. Compher scored and Cam Talbot made 35 saves for Detroit, which is four points behind Montreal and two points behind Columbus and the New York Rangers in the race for the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot.

Fowler scored his ninth goal of the season on a feed from Robert Thomas, who has 11 assists in his last five games.

Kyrou scored his team-leading 32nd goal of the season with 28 seconds remaining in regulation, and Binnington pulled for an extra attacker to tie the game at 1-all.

Jake Guentzel and Victor Hedman scored the game-winning and insurance goals in the second period Tuesday night for the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning, which inched closer to clinching a playoff berth, while damaging the postseason hopes of the New York Islanders with a 4-1 win in Elmont, New York.

Agencies