Capitals vs Islanders Picks & Props

Almost 38 years later, Capitals star Alex Ovechkin has a chance to ensure another permanent connection between the teams in the NHL's history books.

Ovechkin will attempt to break his tie with Wayne Gretzky as the NHL's all-time leading scorer Sunday afternoon, when the Capitals visit the Islanders in what is sure to be a charged atmosphere in Elmont, N.Y.

Both teams were off Saturday after earning wins at home Friday. Ovechkin scored twice to tie Gretzky's record in the Capitals' 5-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks, while the Islanders stopped a six-game losing streak by beating the Minnesota Wild 3-1.

Ovechkin, appearing at home for just the second time in the past six games, tied Gretzky in front of a sellout crowd of 18,573 by collecting his 893rd and 894th goals in his 1,486th career game. Gretzky played one more game in his legendary NHL career.

Gretzky was on hand Friday, sitting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. Ovechkin, after being congratulated by teammates on the ice, stopped to look at Gretzky in his box and then bowed.

Ovechkin opened the scoring at 3:52 of the first period before he collected a power play goal with 6:13 remaining in the game for the Capitals (49-18-9, 107 points), who entered play Saturday 11 points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes in the race for the Metropolitan Division title and the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Toronto Maple Leafs also have 96 points in the race for the East's top seed.

"I still can't believe it," Ovechkin, 39, said. "It's history. It's great for the game, it's great to do it here. It's special."

Ovechkin had several chances to break the record in the waning minutes. With no desire to break the record on an empty-netter, he declined to take the ice when the Blackhawks pulled goalie Spencer Knight. Ovechkin then missed four shots in the final 78 seconds after Knight returned to the ice following an empty-netter by Ryan Leonard.

"I'll take every empty-net goal I can get," said Gretzky, who joined Ovechkin for a press conference and is expected to attend the Sunday game with Bettman.

The two-goal game Friday continued a remarkable sprint to the record by Ovechkin, who has scored in each of his past four games and has 41 goals in just 60 games this season -- including 26 in 42 games since Dec. 28, when he returned from a 16-game absence due to a broken leg.

Ovechkin has 44 goals in 71 career regular-season games against the Islanders but has never scored against Ilya Sorokin, who is expected to start at goalie Sunday afternoon.

"It's game-by-game, it's shift-by-shift," Ovechkin said. "You never know what's going to happen."

Preventing Ovechkin from breaking the record Sunday might help the Islanders (33-32-10, 76 points) maintain their flickering playoff hopes. Casey Cizikas, Simon Holmstrom and Noah Dobson scored Friday for New York, which entered play Saturday five points behind the Montreal Canadiens in the race for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot.

The Islanders, who mounted late surges to reach the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, will need to do that again with just seven games remaining. They have one each against the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets, teams they would need to leap over to earn a wild card.

"Our focus is on these last games and what's at stake," Cizikas said. "Anything can happen in this league. We've got to focus on what we can control and give ourselves the best fighting chance."

--Field Level Media