With Ovi set to break Gretzky's career goals record, many comparisons have been drawn between them. But only one man can say he was a teammate of both.

Alex Ovechkin's chase for the NHL career goals record has made him, and the Washington Capitals, the NHL's hottest bet.

The left wing practiced Monday on a line with Dubois at center and Aliaksei Protas at right wing. Ovechkin, who has 20 goals in 27 games this season and is 22 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky ’s NHL record of 894 goals, has played regularly with Dylan Strome, who practiced on a line with Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson.

Knuble was a 26-year-old forward with the New York Rangers in 1998-99, the final season of Gretzky's career. He played three seasons with Ovechkin in Washington (2009-10 through 2011-12 ...

Vincent Trocheck scored the only goal of the shootout, Igor Shesterkin stopped 27 shots and New York Rangers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 1-0.

Igor Shesterkin was flawless on Saturday night, and the New York Rangers needed him to be just that in a 1-0 shootout victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Madison Square Garden. Shesterkin and Columbus goaltender Daniil Tarasov matched 27-save shutouts through 65 minutes.

Daniil Tarasov made 26 saves, including stopping Mika Zibanejad twice on breakaways in overtime, at 1:25 and again with 17 seconds left, but the Blue Jackets (22-17-4) lost for the first time since Jan. 2, ending their six-game winning streak.

Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves and three more in the shootout as the host New York Rangers earned a crucial 1-0 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.

Artemi Panarin scored twice, Chris Kreider got the go-ahead goal with 9:38 left and the New York Rangers rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday night. Reilly Smith tied it 3-all with a short-handed goal 28 seconds into the third period for the Rangers,

With his overtime goal on Thursday, Alex Ovechkin has now scored against 179 different goalies in his NHL career — more than any other player.

The Daily is chock full of news and note son the New York Rangers and how they flipped the script on early-season failures, as well as taking a spin around the NHL, including another NHL record for Alex Ovechkin.

They’re now 3-4-3 since the Christmas break, partially due to a major uptick in quality chances allowed at five-on-five; they were at 2.18 per 60 heading into the holiday, fourth-best in the NHL. In the 10 games since, though, they’re over 2.5.