Alex Ovechkin can break Wayne Gretzky's record with a hat trick against the Chicago Blackhawks

Alex Ovechkin can make history if he scores three goals against the Chicago Blackhawks.

That is how many goals Ovechkin needs to break Wayne Gretzky's NHL goal-scoring record. Two goals against the Blackhawks would tie him with the Great One at 894 career goals.

Ovechkin does have 32 career hat tricks. One of them came against the Blackhawks back in 2022 when he reached 800 career goals.

The young Blackhawks players seem to be in awe of the moment, while a veteran is preaching the need to ruin a potentially historic night.

The Hawks' teenage defenseman Artyom Levshunov was born in 2005 when Ovechkin made his NHL debut. He admitted he grew up loving the Russian superstar while Levshunov was growing up in Belarus.

Hopefully, Levshunov can shake off the nerves and not be overwhelmed by the moment because he is one of the six defensemen, along with goalie Spencer Knight, who will be charged with keeping Ovechkin from tying or breaking Gretzky's record on the Hawks' watch.

Putting off history is one thing veteran Pat Maroon is reminding his young teammates that the team must focus on.

Still, it is nice to see the Hawks involved in an important game since this season was lost back in November.

Things have been especially rough for the Blackhawks as they are 1-8-1 over their past 10 games which includes a current four-game losing streak.

The attention will not be on the Hawks trying to get a win. It will all be on one of the best goal scorers in hockey history trying to pass hockey's greatest player.

Ovi will never overtake Gretzky as hockey's best player of all time. Gretzky's 1963 career assists will always have him ahead of Ovechkin because the Great One was such an amazing playmaker.

Ovechkin has proven to be Gretzky's equal when it comes to lighting up the lamp.

Both got this legendary number of goals in 20 seasons. However, Ovi is showing no signs of slowing down with 39 goals this season. Gretzky had just nine in his final season.

This will be a nice test to see how the Hawks' young blue line handles a high-profile game.

Connor Murphy is the only defenseman skating tonight who was born in the 1990s.

Alex Vlasic is still working his way toward being a legit No. 1 defenseman. Sam Rinzel will be playing in just his third career professional game. Levshunov will be skating in his 12th career NHL game. Kevin Korchinski is still developing his game, and Wyatt Kaiser is trying to prove he belongs in the NHL.

Meanwhile, Knight is trying to show he can bounce back from a stretch, where he gave up 20 goals in five games. He was excellent in his last start against the Colorado Avalanche where he stopped 29 of 31 shots.

Facing a lot of youth gives Ovechkin a shot to make history. Let's hope the young guys meet the moment by stopping Ovi and making him his historic moment against another team.