Ovechkin stated the difficulty of his job to take Gretzky's record

Russian forward and captain of the National Hockey League (NHL) club Washington Capitals Alexander Ovechkin said on Tuesday, January 21, that he has a hard time scoring goals, as he has to play against very strong defenders.

"Even though I'm 20 pucks away from the record and 21 away from breaking it, it's hard to score goals in this league. You play against the best defensemen, there might be only one or two chances in a game, you have to take them. I'm doing my job," Ovechkin was quoted as saying by the club's press service before the NHL's regular season away game against the Edmonton Oilers.

The forward added that hockey is a team sport, you can't act alone.

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Earlier in the day, Ovechkin was photographed with Gretzky's sweater at the Edmonton museum before the game. The Washington Capitals club, publishing the photo, added that in this way the forward paid tribute to the great player.

Before that, on January 17, Ovechkin reduced the gap between Gretzky and 20 goals by scoring a puck in overtime of the regular season National Hockey League (NHL) match against the Ottawa Senators. The puck was the only one of the game and helped Washington win the game.