Alex Ovechkin skated over to his son Sergei at the glass. He bowed to Wayne Gretzky standing in a suite. He blew kisses to his wife, mother and family on the other side of the arena.

Chicago put goalie Spencer Knight back in the game after that, so Ovechkin came back in and nearly got the hat trick anyway. He got four shot attempts off in the final two minutes and was agonizingly close to the record-breaking goal, but Knight had other plans.

Alex Ovechkin and his Washington Capitals were on a road trip through California. Before flying from Los Angeles to San Jose, they had a night off. Sergey Kocharov, the Capitals’ head of communications,