Canucks Notebook: Bruce Boudreau thinks Alex Ovechkin will break Gretzky’s goalscoring record

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Math had always seemed pretty daunting.

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For Alex Ovechkin to overtake Wayne Gretzky as the National Hockey League’s career leader in regular-season goals, it was always going to require a ridiculous, consistent streak of productivity, avoiding injuries and keeping that fire in his stomach burning at 36. years.

Is working.

The Washington Capitals superstar scored 25 goals this season in a Sunday matinee against the Vancouver Canucks and is on pace for 54 in 82 games. The driven winger, who sports the deadliest and most accurate single-half strike in the game, has 755 goals in 1,235 career games and was 139 short of Gretzky’s record of 894 once considered unattainable.

Factor in those 54 projected goals and Ovechkin would be 110 shy of the NHL career mark entering next season. He’s under contract through 2025-26, so a quest that was a dream so long ago now seems feasible.

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No one knows that better than Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau.

The former Capitals bench chief saw Ovechkin amass 65 goals in 2007-08 before the Russian great followed with 56 and 50 goals in the following two seasons. He has reached the 50-goal plateau eight times.

“He’s going to play until he breaks it, I can tell you that,” Boudreau said of a run for the record. “What puts him in the category with Orr (Bobby), Howe (Gordie) and Gretzky and the greats of the game is his will and the desire to do it.

“He can get stopped on a single night, but he’s as good as anyone I’ve ever met. And that’s what tells me he’s going to break records.”

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That’s because Ovechkin’s bowling ball has the size of 6-foot-3, 238 pounds, the skill and drive to intimidate. You’re just as likely to dish out a devastating check as you are to score a high-reel goal. So how do you defend it?

“Asking him not to come on the ice would be the first thing,” Boudreau joked. “You have to get in his face. It’s not a matter of hitting him, because the more you hit him, he’s like the Hulk and he gets stronger the angrier he gets. You want to let him sleep because you can’t give him the time and space to shoot.

“There are a lot of different things with Alex and he can beat you in a lot of ways. And when someone finds one, they find another way.”

Tyler Myers has always been willing to block shots, but going down in front of an Ovechkin howitzer is something else. The Canucks defenseman has the memories and the bruises.

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“Yes,” Myers said. “It’s a less fun loss to do that job. We have to have good spaces and not just the defense. It’s good back pressure to allow the defense to get up and eliminate opportunities to get into the zone with space because he (Ovechkin) can score from anywhere.”

Sunday marked the 16-year anniversary of what was called “the goal” in Ovechkin’s rookie season. It could also have been called “the arrival”.

Ovechkin was brought down on a run by Paul Mara in Phoenix, sliding backwards and not facing the net when he somehow hooked the puck past frightened keeper Brian Boucher. It became a YouTube sensation and came three days after Ovechkin recorded his first NHL hat-trick.

Even six years ago, when the Canucks were preparing to face the Capitals in Washington, the winger wasn’t believing that Gretzky’s record would eventually be attainable.

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Back then, in 2016, the math suggested that 10 seasons into a 40-goal clip would do it.

“Ten years? I don’t think I’m going to play 10 years,” Ovechkin told this reporter. I’m not a Jagr. As long as I’m healthy and can produce and physicality is the most important thing. You can play, but what’s the point if can’t you do anything out there?

“You just embarrass yourself and you embarrass your name. You have to finish when the time is right, and of course that’s going to be difficult. But sometimes you have to do that.”

However, Ovechkin’s supporters have always defended his ability to play at a high and sustainable level.

“It’s really up to him,” former Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “The great players in the league tend to play forever and if they have a special talent, they find ways to be productive and with that you can play for a long time.”

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And that’s why the wow factor remains.

DIPIETRO TO THE TAXI TEAM

The Canucks called goaltender Mike DiPietro, 22, into the taxi team with Jaroslav Halak in the COVID-19 protocol, and Spencer Martin as a backup to Thatcher Demko on Sunday.

DiPietro has a 4-7-2 record, 3.19 goals against average and an .896 save percentage with the AHL affiliate in Abbotsford.

“Our plan is day to day and let’s see how it goes,” Boudreau said of the recall.

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