Alex Ovechkin scored the 889th goal of his career Tuesday night and is now six goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL record.

Ovechkin posted the tying goal in the third period to help the Washington Capitals force overtime and gain a point. The Winnipeg Jets won 3-2 in the extra session.

It has been a remarkable run this season for the East-leading Capitals and Ovechkin, who entered the campaign 42 goals short of breaking a record that long seemed unapproachable. He sat out 16 games because of a broken leg but resumed his pursuit in December.

The 39-year-old Russian, in his 20th NHL season, took a pass from linemate Aliaksei Protas on Tuesday night and fired a wrist shot past Vezina Trophy front-runner Connor Hellebuyck to tie the score.

Ovechkin, named the game's third star, had four shots on net and finished with 17:42 time on ice across 19 shifts.

"Everyone do a great job and the puck came to [Protas] and he finds me," Ovechkin said. "It was a pretty good play by everybody."

Coach Spencer Carbery called it "a big play in a big moment to get that game tied." It's becoming his job to find the best situations to get Ovechkin in position to score.

"He obviously wants to be out there, and then I just manage it with certain matchups and certain situations," Carbery said. "That's something him and I have talked about and we sort of work through, given the situation and the circumstance of the game."

Ovechkin has 36 goals this season and is on track to reach 40 for a 14th time, the most in league history, despite his injury absence. The spotlight will continue to get brighter as he inches closer to Gretzky.

"It is what it is," Ovechkin said. "It's a fun time, obviously, but yeah, you just have to enjoy it. It's a special moment, obviously. Everybody's watching. Everybody's paying attention to that."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.