The Capitals captain is now 29 goals away from the most in NHL history.
Coming into Sunday's contest, the Washington Capitals had failed to win a regular-season game in the same building they hoisted the Stanley Cup in just a few years ago. That changed Sunday, thanks in large part to Alex Ovechkin and his new-look team.
Ovechkin scored his 31st career hat trick, Washington got more secondary scoring and the Capitals for a 5-2 win.
Here are all the takeaways from the victory.
Ovechkin Stays Hot, Moves Closer To Gretzky
Alex Ovechkin's been unstoppable to open this season, and his hot streak continued in Sin City.
Ovechkin got on the board in the first when his shot went off of Alex Pietrangelo and past Ilya Samsonov (the 177th goalie he's scored on) to give Washington an early lead on the power play. It marked his 315th career PPG and also marked his fourth straight game with a point.
The captain wasn't done there, though. With his team needing more insurance late in the second, Ovechkin picked up a feed from Matt Roy and charged into the offensive zone, electing to shoot on a 2-on-1 with Roy for his second of the night.
He completed the hat trick with a late empty netter.
Ovechkin is up to 13 goals — he has 12 in his last 10 games — which is tied for most in the NHL. The 39-year-old is just 29 goals away from passing Wayne Gretzky for the most goals in NHL history.
He's on pace for 63 goals, which would have him passing Gretzky and hitting 900 this season.
Not only was Ovechkin solid offensively, but he made some great defensive plays, including a big shot block and a good stick play on Ivan Barbashev to prevent a lay-up, game-tying goal early in the second.
Chychrun, Defense Continue To Chip In; Vrana Gets On Board Again
Washington got just 20 goals from its defense all last season; this year, the blue line has contributed 11.
Jakob Chychrun got on the board with his third goal in four games, picking up a feed from Dylan Strome and firing a rocket past Samsonov for his fifth of the season.
Then, in the second, with D.C. needing an insurance goal, Rasmus Sandin helped get the puck up to Aliaksei Protas, who set up Jakub Vrana for a critical goal. It marked Sandin's fifth straight game with a point.
Vrana, meanwhile, has goals in back-to-back games and points in five of his last seven outings overall.
Thompson Gets Win, Strome Adds To Hot Start
It was a big game for Logan Thompson, who made his return to Vegas for the first time since being traded in the offseason. He'd already had a win against the Golden Knights back in October but wanted to sweep the season series to get even sweeter revenge. He delivered.
Thompson stopped 39 of 41 and shined, especially in the third, for the win.
Meanwhile, Dylan Strome picked up two assists, putting him up to 21 assists on the season, the second-most in the league. His 26 points lead D.C. and are tied for sixth-most in the NHL.