WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin moved another step closer to breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL career goals record by tormenting Marc-Andre Fleury one more time.
The Washington Capitals captain scored his 871st goal by beating Fleury on a power play in the second period against Minnesota on Thursday night. Fleury got the last laugh by denying Ovechkin in the shootout to give the Wild the victory.
"He got a goal in the game already, so that was enough," Fleury said with a chuckle.
Ovechkin has scored on Fleury 28 times in 47 games against him over the past two decades, with a vast majority of them coming when ''Flower'' played for the rival Pittsburgh Penguins. That's by far the most of the record-tying 178 different goaltenders Ovechkin has scored on.
''I don't like getting scored on by him, but I love the battle over the years," Fleury said, acknowledging he knew he had given up more goals to Ovechkin than anyone else. "Yeah, I've heard that a few times.''
Fleury has also played Ovechkin the most of any goalie and seen his most shots: 241 of his record 6,708.
''It's 20 years we play against each other,'' Ovechkin said. "It's always fun. It's always a challenge. He's one of the best goalies out there, and it's a huge challenge for me to play against him.''
With 40.8 seconds left in the second period, Ovechkin skated over to Fleury after the whistle and joked, ''I need one more.''