Friday in Washington was the first time the Rangers would get to see the Great 8, Alexander Ovechkin, since the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer announced he would retire after the season. After that, the Rangers will get to see Ovechkin just three more times, unless they run into the Capitals in the playoffs.

“He's arguably the greatest goal scorer of all time,’’ Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said of Ovechkin, who is 41 now, and in his 22nd season. “You look at his influence on the game for the last 20 years . . .  and I don't know him personally, but just the charisma that he brings and how he represents the game and the Washington Capitals has been impressive.”

Sullivan coached Sidney Crosby, the player with whom Ovechkin has always been linked, for 10-plus years in Pittsburgh, and saw the Ovechkin-Crosby rivalry up close.

“I think [Ovechkin] and Sid, in a lot of ways, those two guys have been the ambassadors for the game for the last 20 years,” Sullivan said. “And both of them are very different in how they play, and they're very different personalities. They've both done a remarkable job, in my mind, in representing our sport the way they do.”

Entering Friday, Ovechkin had scored 929 goals in 1,576 games, 46 of those coming in 80 games against the Rangers, though none came last season. His last goal against the Rangers was March 5, 2025, a power-play effort against Igor Shesterkin in a 3-2 Capitals overtime win. It was Ovechkin’s fifth career goal against Shesterkin, but Shesterkin, a fellow Russian, still enjoys playing against him, and has much respect for what he has done for the game both in the NHL and back home in Russia.

“I think everyone in the world who knows hockey, and probably [even those] who don't care about hockey, know Ovechkin,’’ Shesterkin said. “He’s scored the most goals in NHL history. Great leader, great person.”

Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, who is also Russian, knows Ovechkin well from having played together on the national team in World Championships. He has also spent time vacationing with Ovechkin in past summers.

“He’s got a legit legacy,’’ Gavrikov said. “He and Crosby have been . . .  carrying the league for… two decades. So they're both great. Ovi is just worldwide. He’s not just big in Russia, he’s big everywhere, I'm gonna say. And then the people who don’t know much [about] hockey do know who Alex Ovechkin is. So that's huge. And he’s meant a lot for our game, to break those all-time records. And he's just a great guy off the ice.”

Great guy or not, though, the Rangers’ job Friday was to find a way to keep Ovechkin off the scoreboard, which is never an easy task.

“It's always challenging, because everyone knows he has a lethal shot and he just needs a split-second to put that thing on fire and it's coming hot,’’ Gavrikov said.

Of course, for the 4-1 Rangers, winners of four in a row entering Friday, there was a bigger picture to worry about than just Ovechkin. A matchup against 2-1 Washington, who many have identified as one of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference, represented an early season test of how far the retooled Rangers have come since last year. And it could potentially give insight into just how legitimate they are as a playoff contender.

“They’re big, they're strong, they're hard to play against,” Sullivan said on Thursday of the Capitals. “They have game-breaking players . . .  I think they're a real good team.”

The Rangers are feeling pretty good about themselves right now, though, and Gavrikov said he was more concerned about his own team than about the Capitals, who missed the playoffs by a hair last spring, but strengthened themselves by adding Alex Tuch, Jordan Kyrou and Boone Jenner over the summer.

“I mean, for us, this season means a lot, as just a bounce back after last year,’’ Gavrikov said. “So we’ve probably got to challenge ourselves, more than anybody else. Obviously, they have a good team, and they got stronger. But we’ve got to be a better version ourselves and try to bring the best we can.”

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.