Pepperoni, Anchovy, and Marshmallow Fluff Pizza and Dreams of a Record for All Time

In an interview given to ESPN over the weekend, Alex Ovechkin joked that should he break the all-time goal scoring record of Wayne Gretzky, he would instantly retire.  It was an interesting interview, to say the least...

Fueled by a pepperoni, anchovy, and marshmallow fluff pizza, it got us to dreaming just how it might end…

So there it is… New Year’s Day 2025.  The Capitals are hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins at Dan Snyder Coliseum in Washington in the Bridgestone Winter Classic, a crowd of 68,000 settled in for a white hot matchup on a cold day in the Nation’s Capital featuring bitter rivals. One was rebuilding after the simultaneous retirements of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin before this season, the other was the defending Stanley Cup champion.

The game took on an added importance with a Capitals legend on the brink of making history no one thought possible, taking the all-time goal scoring lead away from Wayne Gretzky. Alex Ovechkin, in the last year of a four-year contract and who once joked about retiring if he captured this record, was widely rumored to be retiring from the NHL at the end of this season.

The game is all it has always been – hard fought and unrelenting.  Pittsburgh opened the scoring on an Alexis Lafreniere goal in the first period, and the Caps tied it just before the final horn of the period. Pittsburgh extended their lead with a pair of goals in the second period, and when they scored in the early in the third period to make it 4-1, it looked as if the Caps would lose their first outdoor game after four wins in four tries.

The Caps crawled back, though, scoring goals less than a minute apart mid-way through the period to make it a one-goal game. Despite a deluge of shots on the Penguin net, though, they could not find the equalizer. Then, with just under two minutes left, the Penguins were hit with a delay of game/puck over glass penalty, and the Caps had one more chance.

With the Caps net empty, they set up a 6-on-4 power play, and as they did so many times before, they worked the puck to John Carlson at the top of the offensive zone. He laid off a pass to Ovechkin in his “office,” and his one-timer from the left wing circle sailed into the top of the net to tie the game, 4-4, with eight seconds left in regulation – naturally – and he tied Gretzky for the all-time goal scoring lead.

In overtime, the Penguins had a chance, but a Lafreniere shot clanged off the post behind goalie Ilya Samsonov.  The long rebound hopped over a Penguin stick, and made its way to Ovechkin exiting the zone. Taking it in stride behind the Penguin defense, Ovechkin skated over the blue line.  While age might have robbed him of some speed, it did not diminish his strength, nor did it quench the fire in his eyes when a scoring chance presented itself.

With a defenseman hanging on his shoulders like a stole, he kept his feet moving, and as he was being hauled to the ice he one handed a shot over the glove of goalie Emil Larmi. The crowd exploded as they realized they not only witnessed a thrilling 5-4 win, but history being made on a big stage by the game’s biggest player.  The players mobbed Ovechkin behind the Penguin net and slowly made their way to center ice.

Standing in a circle at center ice, they raised their sticks to salute the crowd.  As they did so, Ovechkin slowly skated to the center ice dot, and the players turned to face him, realizing something big was about to happen.  He raised his stick high to the crowd, turning to salute each corner of the stadium.  Then, he extended his arm and dropped his stick to the ice, turned, and skated off the ice to make his way down the tunnel one final time, his last game as a Capital and holder of a record that now will never be broken.