Alex Ovechkin’s first goal of the season brings him within 2 of the 900 mark for his career

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin’s mini-drought is over. The countdown to another milestone can begin again.

Ovechkin scored his first goal of the season Friday night, moving to within two of 900 for his career and helping the Washington Capitals to a 5-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild. Ovechkin went without a goal in the season’s first four games — not a crisis but a longer dry spell than he had at any time last season, when he scored 44 times and broke Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record with No. 895.

That number is up to 898 now — tracked on a counter above a corner of the ice in Washington.

“Chances was there,” said the 40-year-old Ovechkin, who had 11 shots on goal through the first four games and three more Friday. “Sometimes you just have to be patient.”

With the Caps up 2-1 in the third period, Dylan Strome won a faceoff straight to Ovechkin, who snapped the puck in off the left post.

“Obviously we try that play quite often, and when it works it looks great,” said Strome, who had two goals of his own. “It doesn’t always work. Just kind of one of those where it just was kind of right in the wheelhouse.”

The Capitals dropped their opener but have won four in a row since, and they’ve allowed only three 5-on-5 goals all season. On Friday, they outshot Minnesota 45-14 in a dominant performance.

It was 24-7 in shots after two periods, but Washington led only 2-1 before Ovechkin gave the Capitals their first multigoal lead of the night.

“Everything that we were doing in the third period was exactly in line with how we want to play,” coach Spencer Carbery said. “The structure, guys were making good decisions, rolling over lines. It was probably our most impressive period given the situation.”

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