Alex Ovechkin reached 30 goals in a season for the 19th time in his 20-year NHL career, adding to the league record he set last season with his 18th.

The Washington Capitals captain notched his latest milestone goal Tuesday night at home against the Calgary Flames in a 3-1 loss. He beat Dan Vladar with a one-timer on the power play 4:52 into the third period, sending the crowd into chants of "Ovi! Ovi!"

"I was cheating a little bit, but there is a reason why he has so many goals like that," Vladar said. "It's going to be a story for my kids one day that a player like that scored on me, but obviously in that moment, you don't appreciate it. I'm happy we just play twice against them."

Ovechkin joined Teemu Selanne, Johnny Bucyk and Gordie Howe (who did it three times) as the only players in hockey history to score 30-plus goals in a season at age 39 or older.

"My linemates, teammates do a pretty good job finding me out there, and I just have to finish it up," Ovechkin said.

Reaching the 30-goal mark in 42 games this season, according to ESPN Research, is the fifth-fewest games Ovechkin has needed to get there in his career. And he has now separated himself from the pack of 30-goal scorers on the NHL all-time list. Mike Gartner is in second place with 17 seasons, and Jaromir Jagr is third with 15.

Scoring his 883rd career goal also puts Ovechkin within 12 of breaking Wayne Gretzky's mark of 894 that had long seemed unapproachable. Adding this to his hat trick Sunday against Edmonton, Ovechkin is now on pace to pass Gretzky in early April.

"He's obviously doing such special things," Calgary's Matt Coronato said. "Obviously, when you're competing against him, you don't want to see it but definitely cool to watch all season long."

Since returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break, Ovechkin has four goals in three games for the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals, who, despite Tuesday's loss, are 4-2 in their past six games.

But the biggest winner of the night was Calgary, which moved into a playoff position in the Western Conference after goals by Coronato, Martin Pospisil and Jonathan Huberdeau. And Vladar made 26 saves for the Flames, who have won two in a row coming out of the league's break.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett authored a rare "Gordie Howe hat trick" in his team's 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.

Bennett was fresh off a memorable 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, where he scored the tying goal for Team Canada in its title-clinching win over the United States in Boston, and also took part in the fight-night opener in which he battled American forward Brady Tkachuk at center ice in Montreal. On Tuesday, he had a goal, an assist and a fight -- the Howe hat trick -- against the Predators at Bridgestone Arena.

Bennett, who opened the scoring in the first period with his 19th goal, a power-play tally that was assisted by Sam Reinhart and Aleksander Barkov, squared off Nashville forward Cole Smith in the Predators zone after a scrum in front of the net with 13:45 left in the third period.

"It's a part of the game, standing up for your teammates," Smith said of the fight. "So, yeah, it's part of the game."

Bennett capped off the trick with an assist on Mackie Samoskevich's ninth goal of the season, which concluded the scoring at 15:34 of the final period.

The headlines are coming at the perfect time for the 28-year-old Bennett, who has been to the Stanley Cup Final two straight seasons with Florida, and will be an unrestricted free agent in July. He is in the final year of a deal that carries a salary cap hit of $4.425 million, and the tough-minded forward figures to be in line for a major raise.

The winning goal, though, belonged to a newer Panther, prospect Justin Sourdif, promoted from the AHL while some of Florida's forwards, such as injured Matthew Tkachuk, work their way back into the lineup. Sourdif scored his first NHL goal in the second period.

"The thing that I enjoy the most is how happy the bench is when they score. The veteran guys cheer for those kids," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "That's so important to make them feel comfortable and feel like they are a part of it and belong."

Spencer Knight made 18 saves for the Panthers, and Juuse Saros stopped 21 shots for the Predators. Michael McCarron scored the lone goal for Nashville.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Lawson Crouse scored the tiebreaking goal on a backhander with 7:48 left and the Utah Hockey Club rallied to defeat the struggling Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 on Tuesday night, a loss that stung one of the visiting team's longest-serving players.

Veteran defenseman Seth Jones, a popular name in this season's trade market and who is in his fourth season with Chicago, voiced his frustration after the Blackhawks lost their fourth straight (0-3-1) and extended a run in which they've now lost seven of eight (1-5-2).

"We're the exact same team right now as we were Game 1," Jones said at his locker. "It's pretty evident out there. We haven't made any strides to be a better, more simple hockey team, and it shows. We don't get a lot of wins because of that."

Clayton Keller scored in the second period and Karel Vejmelka finished with 21 saves to help Utah get its fifth win in seven games, including its third straight at home for the first time. Keller has a team-high 33 points in 29 home games.

"This has been almost four years of bottom of the league," said Jones, who scored for Chicago in the loss. "So, it's not just this year, for me, at least."

Arvid Soderblom, among one of few bright spots for Chicago, stopped 34 shots for the Blackhawks.

"Sodie was unbelievable," Jones said of his netminder. "We have zero chance of winning is he doesn't stand on his head."

Jones, 30, figures to attract quite a few suitors leading up to next week's trade deadline. But any move for Jones is going to be complicated considering the lofty contract he'd bring from Chicago. He's only in Year 3 of an eight-year pact that carries a whopping $9.5 million salary cap hit.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

After taking a pause for the 4 Nations Face-Off -- and continuing Canadian domination in best-on-best tournaments -- the NHL regular season is now rocketing toward the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The stakes are high. Time is short. Who's in and who's out?

The NHL Bubble Watch is our monthly check-in on the Stanley Cup playoff races using postseason probabilities and points projections from Stathletes for all 32 teams. We also reveal which teams shouldn't worry about any of this because they're lottery-bound already.

As a bonus this month, we're also including which player from the playoff contenders needs to step up the most in the stretch run.

But first, a look at the projected playoff bracket:

The NHL trade deadline is less than two weeks away on March 7, and there is plenty of adding to be done for the contenders. As is always the case, not every playoff team is a Stanley Cup "contender." We focus here on nine of the top teams based on the standings, with sustainable underlying numbers and key strengths heading into the playoffs.

A few principles that many GMs abide by when building a contender for the playoffs: you can never have enough defensemen, confidence in goaltending, and forwards with tough skill -- the kind of skill that allows players to be difference-makers when games get tighter. Management and coaches want players they can trust, and often those players are the physical, defensively responsible types. Shoring up those areas often becomes a more pressing priority than acquiring depth scoring, or a high-end player.

With those parameters in mind, here's a look at the current weaknesses of top five teams in the Western Conference and four from the Eastern Conference -- and what they might do ahead of the deadline to alleviate them.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has been given a two-match touchline ban and fined 70,000 ($88,500) by the Football Association after his red card amid fractious scenes at the end of the Merseyside derby on Feb. 12.

Slot, who approached referee Michael Oliver after a melee between the two sets of players following the full-time whistle had seen Everton's Abdoulaye Doucouré and Liverpool's Curtis Jones sent off for second bookable offences, admitted acting "in an improper manner and/or used insulting and/or abusive words and/or behaviour towards both the match referee and an assistant referee."

Assistant boss Sipke Hulshoff, who also accepted the charge, has also been banned for two games and given a 7,000 fine after he too was dismissed following the final whistle.

Everton and Liverpool were also charged with failing "to ensure their players and/or technical area occupants did not behave in an improper and/or provocative way" and were handed fines of 65,000 and 50,000 respectively.

The written reasons for the suspensions and the fines will be published at a later date.

Doucouré appeared to celebrate in front of Liverpool supporters after James Tarkowski's goal in the eighth minute of stoppage time earned Everton a 2-2 draw in the last-ever derby at Goodison Park.

Jones reacted angrily and ran over to confront Doucouré, which led to the melee.

Slot shook Oliver's hand and appeared to say something to the referee, who then immediately produced another red card.

Former Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag has said this generation of professional footballers find criticism offensive and demotivating in direct contrast to players of his era.

Ten Hag had a number of high-profile clashes with first-team players during his stint at Old Trafford, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford.

The Dutch coach was sacked in October after two-and-a-half years in charge.

"This generation usually find it difficult to deal with criticism," Ten Hag told SEG Stories, the media arm of his management agency. "Criticism really gets to them.

"The generation that I grew up in had much thicker skin. You could be much more direct.

"I was approached much more directly. If I would do that with my current group of players I would demotivate them.

"If you do that to the current generation they find it offensive."

Ten Hag's entire playing career took place in the Netherlands between 1989 and 2002.

Ten Hag's first season at the helm saw United finish third and qualify for the UEFA Champions League, as well as winning the Carabao Cup. However, he notably fell out with Ronaldo midway through that season, with the Portugal star telling Piers Morgan's TalkTV show that he had no respect for the coach.

The second full season in charge was considerably less successful as United finished eighth -- their lowest ever placing in the Premier League -- with a record number of defeats (14). The coach had a public spat with Sancho at the start of the season after criticising his work-rate in training ahead of a trip to Arsenal -- a game they lost 3-1 -- with the England international responding on social media.

Rashford was dropped by Ten Hag after reporting himself ill amid confusion over the timings of a night out in Belfast in January 2024.

United did beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final in May, leading to a two-year contract extension for Ten Hag, though he was sacked in October after winning just four of the team's opening 13 league games.

Ten Hag told SEG that he has had offers to return to management since his dismissal, though he would not consider taking a job until July 1.

United have continued to struggle under Ruben Amorim, Ten Hag's replacement. They are 15th in the standings on 30 points having lost 12 of their 26 games in the league.

Former Chelsea and Galatasaray striker Didier Drogba weighed in on the racism row involving his old coach Jose Mourinho on Wednesday, saying the Portuguese coach "is not a racist and history is there to prove it."

Mourinho, who coaches Fenerbahce in Turkey, was accused by Galatasaray of making racist comments after a 0-0 draw between the rivals teams that was refereed by a Slovenian official on Monday.

Mourinho was asked about a challenge early in the match and said a Turkish referee would have reacted with a yellow card "after the big dive and their [Galatasaray's] bench jumping around like monkeys."

Galatasaray said they planned to start criminal proceedings against Mourinho, citing "racist statements," and filed complaints with football's governing bodies.

A day later, Fenerbahce rejected the accusation, saying the remarks had nothing to do with racism and were "deliberately taken entirely out of context and distorted in a misleading manner."

The club said it was planning to take a legal action "against this baseless accusation."

In a post on social media platform X, Drogba -- who played under Mourinho at Chelsea in two separate spells -- said he had seen the comments about his former coach.

"Trust me when I tell you I have known Jose for 25 years and he is not a racist and history [past and recent] is there to prove it," Drogba, who is Black, wrote. "Let's focus on our games, support our brilliant lions and let's win the league."

Drogba added: "How can my 'Dad' be a racist. Come on guys."

The Turkish football federation's disciplinary board is expected to make an announcement on the incident in the coming days.

Dominik Szoboszlai had nothing left to give. After the final whistle had blown at Manchester City on Sunday, the Hungary international collapsed to the turf in exhaustion, having just delivered one of the outstanding individual performances of the Premier League season so far.

Szoboszlai had been involved in both goals in Liverpool's 2-0 win at the Etihad, teeing up Mohamed Salah to score the first before collecting the ball from the Egypt international and rifling clinically past Ederson to notch his sixth goal of the season in all competitions.

While it was his brilliance inside the 18-yard box that gave Liverpool the advantage against Pep Guardiola's side, it was his relentless work ethic that helped ensure the league leaders kept their noses in front. It was a victory that, by the end of the 90 minutes, had the triumphant away fans demanding that City hand over their Premier League crown. When asked post-match for his reaction to the supporters' chants of "we're going to win the league," Szoboszlai told Sky Sports: "I didn't hear it, I was so tired."

Liverpool's clash with City was their fourth game in the space of just 12 days, with Szoboszlai one of only two outfielders (alongside captain Virgil van Dijk) to have played every minute during that run. With that in mind, it's perhaps little wonder he felt tired.

The rewards for such a herculean effort, though, promise to be great for Szoboszlai and for Liverpool. Arne Slot's side now boast an 11-point lead at the top of the Premier League table -- albeit having played a game more than second-placed Arsenal -- with just 11 games left. Should Liverpool win the club's 20th league title this term then the likes of Salah and Van Dijk will, rightly, earn much of the acclaim. But while it is his teammates who might grab the headlines, Szoboszlai has this season cemented himself as one of the most vital cogs in Slot's machine.

'He was born for football'

Szoboszlai is used to his reputation preceding him. When he joined Hungarian top-flight club MTK Budapest in 2015, academy director Zsolt Székely was already well aware of his talent.

"I knew of him before I worked with him because two of his father's friends worked at MTK, and they often told me that I had to watch this kid because he was really good," Székely tells ESPN. "They always said if he was faster, he could have a big future. I first went to watch him at 12 years old and he was amazing."

Szoboszlai was scouted by RB Salzburg at the age of 15, but the club were keen for the midfielder to hone his skills back in his homeland before moving to Austria. He spent a year at MTK, which is widely regarded as Hungary's best football academy.

"He was a great football player," Székely says. "He had very high football intelligence, he had incredible technique. How he kicked the ball, it was something new to us. When he passed the ball, players always passed it back to him. He always wanted to have the ball at his feet.

"He always stood out. I have never seen such a complete player as him. It was always clear he would be successful. His life was football. He was born for football. He didn't have a smartphone; he didn't have Facebook. He just played football all day, with us or with his father. He was crazy about it."

On the international stage, too, it didn't take long for Szoboszlai to make a name for himself. In 2017, the midfielder was part of the Hungary squad bidding to qualify for the European Under-17 Championship, lining up against a Norway side spearheaded by a striker named Erling Haaland -- who later became Szoboszlai's teammate at Salzburg.

"Hungary needed a win to qualify, but the game was tied heading into the last few minutes," Hungarian football journalist Bence Bocsák tells ESPN. "Then Szoboszlai received the ball on the edge of the box and just smashed it into the top corner to win it. After that, literally everyone was talking about him."

The noise around Szoboszlai only grew louder when he moved to Salzburg in 2018, and again when he made the switch to RB Leizpig in the Bundesliga three years later. By that point, the midfielder had already written himself into his country's history books by scoring the goal that sealed Hungary's place at Euro 2020, and he was made captain of the national team in November 2022.

"He is a true leader, a strong character, which is rare in his age," Hungary head coach Marco Rossi said of his decision to hand Szoboszlai the armband. "The players discussed it; it would be the right decision if he became the team captain.

"He is internationally recognised for his abilities, but the most important thing is that he can be sure that he can handle this responsibility and that it will not hinder his development. He is not a top player yet, but he will soon become one."

More than two years on from those comments, Szoboszlai is well on his way to fulfilling that prophecy.

'When Liverpool play, everyone in Hungary is watching'

When Szoboszlai joined Liverpool in a 60 million deal from Leipzig in July 2023, it was, in a sense, a full-circle moment. The Hungary international already had a tattoo on his arm of a quote attributed to Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard: "Talent is a blessing from God, but without incredible will and humility, it is worthless."

With Guinea international Naby Keïta having left Anfield that summer, Szoboszlai inherited the vacant No.8 shirt which Gerrard had worn with great distinction for more than a decade. But if following in the footsteps of an icon comes with pressure, Szoboszlai didn't show it in the early months of his Liverpool career, with his all-action displays in the middle of the park earning him plenty of plaudits.

"You have these people who come into the room and click with everybody, he has that, charisma," then-Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp said in a news conference in September 2023. "He was in the team in an instant, that's clear, and was so happy to come here. It was really nice to see how much it meant to him and that's it."

But, like a number of his Liverpool teammates, Szoboszlai's form dipped in the second half of the campaign, and he started just one of the Reds' final seven league games as they fell away in the title race, ultimately finishing third behind City and Arsenal.

There was little time, though, for the midfielder to rest and recover before Euro 2024, where Hungary agonisingly missed out on qualification for the knockout stages, winning just one of their group-stage games. It was a lot of responsibility to shoulder for one so young, but Szoboszlai has never been the sort of player to shy away from the spotlight.

"I went to South Korea about 18 months ago, a few months after Szoboszlai had signed for Liverpool, and I saw all of these posters of Son Heung-Min," Bocsák says. "He was literally everywhere, and I told all my Hungarian friends this is what is going to happen with Szoboszlai, and that's proved true.

"He had a McDonalds meal named after him in the summer, he's the face of one of the country's biggest telephone companies. He's pretty much everywhere. When Liverpool play, everyone in Hungary is watching."

Szoboszlai could be 'star' for Liverpool

For Szoboszlai and his Liverpool teammates, this season was a clean slate, with Slot arriving from Feyenoord Rotterdam last summer to replace Klopp in the dugout. One hallmark of the Dutchman's Anfield tenure so far has been his willingness to speak plainly about areas for improvement within his team and, ahead of Liverpool's Champions League clash with AC Milan in September, he was particularly clear about his expectations for Szoboszlai.

"Something I have to work on with him is that he is also even more involved in scoring goals and creating chances for us because I think last season he scored three [in the league] if I remember correctly," Slot said.

"For an attacking midfielder at Liverpool his numbers need to go up, but I am really happy with the way he has done until now. I am 100% sure that if he plays in a team with so much quality around him and with the quality he has, he will in the end score more goals as well."

Szoboszlai, too, has acknowledged that he can add further gloss to his numbers. But, playing in a midfield alongside the ingenuity of Alexis Mac Allister and the technical brilliance of Ryan Gravenberch, the 24-year-old is under no illusions about the fact it is down to him to bring the running power to Liverpool's engine room.

"I can play better, as the gaffer said I can score more goals, I can give more assists, but I am doing the 'dirty job' as well for the team and that is the most important thing to me," Szoboszlai said back in October. "While we are top of the league and I don't score any goals, I'll take it."

Szoboszlai's willingness to put in the hard yards was evidenced emphatically at the Etihad on Sunday, where he ran 11.5km -- more than any other player on the pitch. By comparison, Kevin De Bruyne, who has been the heartbeat of City's midfield for nearly a decade, ran just 8.1km, while Nico Gonzalez and Omar Marmoush ran 9.3km and 8.4km respectively.

Considering Liverpool had just 33.9% possession against City -- their lowest in a Premier League victory on record since 2003-04 -- the importance of Szoboszlai's impressive work rate cannot be overstated. Still, though, there is a sense that the midfielder is yet to reach his full potential.

"I think he can be better," Bocsák says. "The conversation in Hungary is that he's still not as good for Liverpool as he is for the national team.

"He took a little bit of time to really get going and become the main man in Salzburg and the same for Leipzig, so I think next season is when we will really see him become the star of this team. He's got that potential, and I think, with time, he'll get there."

With three months of the season still to play, neither Szoboszlai nor his teammates will allow themselves to celebrate just yet. However, if he does go on to become the first Hungarian to win the Premier League this term, it will mark another remarkable chapter in an increasingly extraordinary career.

"He is a sign for every Hungarian kid that if you work hard enough and you have enough talent you can be successful," Székely says. "I'm not sure if there is a higher step in world football than Liverpool, but I'm sure Dominik could be a key player for anyone in the world."