Alex Ovechkin’s teammates have gotten used to him passing hockey greats and reaching new milestones on a regular basis. The greatest of the great is yet to come.

All eyes are on Ovechkin as he closes in on Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record of 894. He is just 42 away from breaking a mark that long seemed untouchable, something that could happen as soon as this coming spring. The Washington Capitals captain will be atop another impressive list much sooner.

Ovechkin has scored against 175 different goaltenders since making his debut in 2005. Four more “victims” will put him ahead of Patrick Marleau and Jaromir Jagr for the most in league history. Many of the masked men Ovechkin has tormented over the years are in awe of what he can do on the ice and, in some cases, rooting for him to get to 895 goals and beyond.

“It’s not going to be surprising,” said Pittsburgh’s Alex Nedeljkovic, who allowed two goals to Ovechkin last season in his first two games facing him. “I would not be surprised if he broke it this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if he broke it by Christmas, to be honest with you, but that’s just the kind of goal scorer he is. I think it’s well within reach.”

Ovechkin has averaged 0.6 goals per game over his long career, a pace that would set him up to threaten the record by late March. He scored 31 last season after going on a second-half tear, so the 40-goal mark would require a return to younger form.

He turned 39 and already has outpaced scorers his age throughout hockey history to get to 817, so it would be silly to rule out the record this season, his 20th. He is under contract next season, too.

“I’m hoping he’s going to break the record, and I think he will maybe this year,” said Chicago’s Petr Mrazek, who has allowed nine goals to Ovechkin. “That’s the way he shoots, that’s the way he scores, so it’s not easy to stop him and you have to be lucky, as well.”

Nearly a decade later, Mrazek remembers his third game against Ovechkin like it was yesterday. The Russian superstar on the way to his seventh of nine career 50-goal seasons put 15 shots on net, Mrazek turned them all aside and Detroit won 1-0.

“He used to be my favorite shooter to stop,” Mrazek said.

Colorado’s Alexandar Georgiev is now among Ovechkin’s most scored-on goalies with 10, largely because of his time with the New York Rangers. He is still behind all-time netminders like Marc-Andre Fleury (27), Henrik Lundqvist (24), Carey Price (22) and Sergei Bobrovsky (16) and said it is “incredible how he can just fly it.”

“Almost like he controls it with a remote,” Georgiev said.

Utah 6, Avalanche 3>> The Utah Hockey Club, formerly the Arizona Coyotes, defeated the Avalanche on Sunday night at Ball Arena in a preseason game. Utah forward Dylan Guenther led with 2 goals and an assist. Scoring for Colorado was center Calum Ritchie, Miles Wood and defenseman Sam Malinski. Avalanche goaltender Justus Annunen made 37 saves.