The Capitals forward needs two goals to tie and three to break Wayne Gretzky‘s all-time goals record of 894. He’ll continue his chase at history against the Chicago Blackhawks at home on Friday (7 p.m.ET; CHSN, MNMT, NHLN, SN, TVAS).

“Rightfully so, there’s a lot of attention on him right now and their team,” Andersen said. “He’s been a heck of a player for 20 years now so that stuff is all deserving and all the attention he’s getting is great. But we have a job to do and our focus on this game was to come in and play our game against a really good opponent. It’s not like they’re just playing for him to score. They’re playing for them and they’re a great team. We came out really hard and got rewarded right away and got a commanding lead. It got a little silly at the end, but just happy to clinch. That’s what we talked about. This is the first race. You’ve got to punch your ticket to get a shot at it.”

Ovechkin finished with four shots on goal. Other than his goal, his best chance came at 1:45 of the second period, when Connor McMichael set him up to be alone in front of Andersen, 1-on-1, but the goalie made a save between his left arm and his body.

Otherwise, the Hurricanes limited his chances and his looks, including on Washington’s four power plays, with the 5-on-3 being the exception.

“Didn’t love the calls on that to give them the 5-on-3 to be honest, but you know, that’s just the classic way he scores,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We’ve seen a hundred of those here basically in that exact same spot. You’ve got to give him credit, he’s the best to ever play to score in that spot.”

It didn’t hurt the Hurricanes because they scored three times in a stretch of 7:07 in the first period, including two on the power play, before Logan Stankoven made it 4-0 at 9:27 of the second.