Another hat trick leaves Alex Ovechkin two goals shy of 700 after Capitals surge by Kings

With the Capitals trailing by one late in the third period, the captain rattled off three straight goals for his fourth hat trick of the season during an awe-inducing span of 4 minutes 24 seconds. This is the first time Ovechkin's career he's recorded four hat tricks in one season. Three of his hat tricks have come in his last six games and he now is on pace to score 61 goals this season. 

It would be the first time in Ovechkin's career he hits the 60-goal mark since 2007-08 season, when he had 65. 

"In less than five minutes, he took over the game," Capitals Coach Todd Reirden said. "We win the game because of that. That's what superstars do. We're fortunate to have him."

After being nearly invisible on the ice for the first 54 minutes, Ovechkin took complete control of the final 6:10. His first goal came on his first shot on goal of the night at 13:50, and he scored twice more over the next four and a half minutes - the final goal coming into an empty net before hats rained down from the sea of red.

The last player to score three or more goals in the final seven minutes of a regular-season game was Peter Bondra for the Capitals against the New York Islanders in March 1996.

Ovechkin now has 698 career goals, leaving him two away from becoming the eighth player in NHL history to notch 700. He has 40 goals on the season, reaching that mark for the 11th time in his career, and he reclaimed the NHL goal scoring lead. 

He has 16 goals in his past 10 games, including three hat tricks. Since Jan. 13, Ovechkin has scored 14 goals over seven games. No other player has more than seven.When asked if he ever amazes himself with his accomplishments, Ovechkin sheepishly said no. 

"Not yet," Ovechkin said. "I'm still playing. Right after the year, yeah, I'm pretty sure my family and my friends are going to talk about it, but now personally I don't try to concentrate about it. I'm just going out there and doing my job."

He is now on track to reach the 700-goal mark in only 1,140 career games, which would be the second fastest in league history. It is also the second fewest games Ovechkin has played to reach the 40 goal mark (53 games). His fewest games to reach the 40-goal mark in his career came in the 2007-08 (52 games). Ovechkin was 22 years old at the time.

"That sounds like a good year," said John Carlson after the game. "That sounds like a good year for the majority of the NHL." 

Behind the heroics of Ovechkin, in what was mostly a sloppy, lackluster game for the majority of the night, the Capitals (36-13-5) rallied again for their 15th comeback win of the season after their opponent has scored first. 

The Kings (19-30-5) entered with one win in their previous seven contests (1-5-1). The Capitals were coming off an emotional, physical 4-3 loss to rival Pittsburgh, with Tuesday's game an exception in a stretch of Metropolitan Division matchups.

The Kings weren't giving the Capitals many opportunities, with Washington managing only 12 shots on goal through the first 40 minutes that ended tied at 1. The Kings appeared to take control when Jeff Carter scored his second goal of the game with 8:37 left.

But that's when Ovechkin took over. He notched his 696th goal at 13:50 before scoring his second of the night off his own rebound 1:10 later for No. 687 and finally the empty netter for his 698th career goal at 18:14 to give the Capitals a stunning victory.

"Give him a couple more years and he'll be at 800," Kings Coach Todd McLellan said. "It's that type of night where maybe you don't see him a lot early and then bang, bang, bang and it's in the net and they've won."

The game was all Los Angeles until John Carlson tied the score at 1 with 12:35 left in the second period. He snuck the puck past Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick under the blocker after a pass from Nicklas Backstrom, who collected a sweet backhand pass from Carl Hagelin from the opposite side of the ice.

Carlson, who also assisted on Ovechkin's last two goals, is one goal away from matching his career best of 15 set in 2017-18. Hagelin is on a seven-game point streak (three goals, four assists) - the first of his career.

Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby made 29 saves and improved to 20-10-4. The only goal he allowed in the opening 40 was a blast by Carter from the left circle that beat him under the glove and over his pad with 4:57 left in the first period.

"Yeah, I really liked his game," Reirden said. "I feel like I'm repeating myself when it comes to certain things like Braden, when he has a game he doesn't like, his response games have been good for years."

Holtby's performance was encouraging for the Capitals, who recalled goaltender Vitek Vanecek from the team's American Hockey League in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday morning.

Rookie backup Ilya Samsonov was announced as day-to-day with an upper-body injury after he was hit with a high shot from Ovechkin at Tuesday's morning skate. He went through some tests in the afternoon and was not cleared to play. The Capitals now have three days before they play their next game Saturday against Philadelphia.

With the postseason nearing, Tuesday also boasted a tweaked look for the Capitals' blue line after Martin Fehervary was called up from Hershey on Tuesday. With the trade deadline approaching, the Capitals wanted to take a look at the 20-year-old and see how his development is shaping up.

Fehervary originally was teamed with Radko Gudas on the third unit, but as the defensive pairs were shuffled during the game, he got extended playing time on the left side of the second pair with Dmitry Orlov. Fehervary, who replaced Jonas Siegenthaler in the lineup, finished with 19:55 of ice time and contributed on the penalty kill.

"I think that his play warrants another game," Reirden said of Fehervary. "How we do that, we'll figure it out. If it's not then, then it's going to be another time soon because I thought he had a strong showing."