“He’s definitely a very, very, very good player,” the Washington Capitals’ director of amateur scouting, Ross Mahoney, told reporters on the night of the NHL entry draft in June 2004. He was talking about Alex Ovechkin, who the team picked first overall that night. “How good will he be?” Mahoney asked. “Time will tell.” Now, nearly 21 years later, time has had its say.

It was a cold January night at Moscow’s famed Luzhniki Palace of Sports, just 21 years ago but in a completely different world.

George W. Bush was in the White House. He had just looked into the eyes of Russia’s new President, Vladimir Putin. Afterward, Mr. Bush infamously said he’d seen into Mr. Putin’s soul and decided this was someone he could trust.

The Great Eight is now the greatest goal-scorer.

Alex Ovechkin completed his chase of Wayne Gretzky on Sunday at UBS Arena, scoring his 895th career goal to stand atop hockey’s all-time list, blasting the puck in from the top of his office, the left circle, for a power-play goal at 7:26 of the second period after Casey Cizikas went off for tripping.

Right after the puck hit nylon, Ovechkin went into a swan dive toward center ice, the Capitals and Islanders alike spilled off the benches and a crowd largely made up of Caps fans exploded in adulation.

Already facing criticism over his ties to President Donald Trump, Wayne Gretzky was once again seen alongside FBI director Kash Patel as Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin scored another historic goal on Sunday on Long Island.

This time it was Ovechkin's 895 career score, which broke Gretzky's all-time mark on Sunday afternoon against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena.

Whether it's on the ice or in the trophy cabinet, American hockey players have been rapidly melting Canada's long-time dominance of the sport.

When Team USA and Canada meet on the TD Garden rink in Boston Thursday night in the championship game of the inaugural 4 Nations Face-off (8 p.m. ET on ESPN), it'll mark one more instance of the neighbors appearing to be near-equals in the sport invented north of the border.

The general manager of the USA men's national ice hockey team has invited President Donald Trump to attend the team's championship game against Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Bill Guerin, who also is the general manager of the Minnesota Wild said, "We would love it if President Trump was in attendance. We have a room full of proud American players and coaches and staff."

The Edmonton Oilers fell in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Monday, losing to the Florida Panthers 2-1 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.

It is the first Stanley Cup championship for the Panthers, who joined the NHL as an expansion franchise in 1993. They won it in their third trip to the final, after losing in 1996 to the Colorado Avalanche and last year to the Vegas Golden Knights.