OverDrive - Beninati on Ovechkin becoming the goals leader, the journey following his career and the iconic milestone for the franchise

Episode Date: April 7, 2025

Capitals Broadcaster Joe Beninati joined OverDrive to discuss Alex Ovechkin breaking the goals record, his experience for the incredible moment, the journey following his career, the character of his personality, the Captails' dominant season and more.

All new, all Canadian, the best of our great nation, one song at a time. This is Justin Bieber. Hi, this is Terry Clark. We are Nickelback. Made in Canada, on iHeartRadio. Rock, pop, hip-hop, and when it comes to country, it's the true north all the way. Loud and proud. An all new digital radio station from coast to coast.

Made in Canada, played in Canada. On the free iHeart app and i have radio dot c after tying the record on the friday night ovina caps roll into long island and this is what we heard and we saw in the second period yesterday. Send in Wilson on the flank, cross eyes, Ovechkin fires! Score! The chasing days are done! Alex Ovechkin is the greatest gold scorer in the history of the NHL!

That was awesome, courtesy of the Monumental Sports Network. Here he here is the voice of the capitals Joe Beninati joining us. Joe, where does that call rank for you in terms of all time great calls? It's way up there. By the way, overdrive would be a great title for Ovechkin's autobiography. Yes. Um, jeez, uh, I'm still shaking guys. The last three or four days, Friday night, I thought was exceptional. It was the closest thing you can get to Stanley cup final fever pitch. And without the aggravation, without the apprehension, uh, everybody was

there for a party and Ovechkin scores 893 in the first five minutes of the game and it was the most amazingly positive type five that you could ever imagine. And then to see him have 894 in front of the great one, in front of all the dignitaries that were there and have multiple chances to break the record that night. It's just an example of the roller coaster ride that he's had us on for 20 years and to do what he did yesterday with so many Caps fans in attendance and a true tip of the cap to everybody with the Islander organization and the Islander fans, they understood what was happening and they saw the right moment to recognize true greatness. I still shake my head.

I never thought he could get to 895. I started to think about it maybe when he got to 500 so quickly and showed no signs of stopping, but 895 goals is really hard to get your head around. So every great broadcaster gets asked this Joe, so it's your turn. You had great calls for 893 and 4 and then the last one, 895, is that something you had jotted down somewhere? Did you just let it fly and it came off the top of your head. There was an interview guys that was done with Craig Loughlin and me in between periods. Rachel Nichols does a show called Hometown here in the DC area.

She comes in with her camera crew. So what are you going to say if he gets it in this period? And Locker and I had not talked about it. I mentioned to her And Locker and I had not talked about it. I mentioned to her, it has to do with something with the chase. Everything was about the chase this last month. The chase coming to an end. The conclusion of a chase. And I really, I started noodling it, honestly, early in the second period. When they had the power play chance, it to me chasing days are done I like a little bit of alliteration and that's what we

went with and you just cross your fingers the whole time it's been nerve racking for all of us connected to monumental anybody who's covered this guy as the milestones add up yes we're rehearsed we're practiced in this we we've seen him do it at 500 600 600, 700, we've been lucky enough to call those. But those are nerve-wracking times. You enter the building with your senses heightened. And I had the feeling that something great was going to happen. Chasing Dave's done was in my mind. And then you just have to give him the credit that he deserves as the greatest goal scorer in NHL history and then you get out of the way and

Let the directors into the TV medium let the directors cut All the reaction shots and that's when you start to get emotional about it but for me, I really I didn't tell locker about it until early in the second period and I just You hope that the goal is clean that doesn't go in off of his head that there's no hope holy interference that there's no offside challenge and i have a lot of it is a very rare fear is narrowly interfered possibility would have been just catastrophic man

uh... can you imagine uh... but thankfully and luckily everything was meant to be because 93 94 95 were all good visible great type Alex of Eskengold's but the toughest one in the run was 890 the deflection he had against Buffalo But Alex does such a great job of selling that and I thanked him for it after the game He when he gets it he gives the kiss to his late brother serguei does that the bendy he'll do the glass jump yesterday obviously saw what he did but

thankfully he sold that one i was the toughest one in this last five run up to eight ninety five which had a little bit and i need the uh... voice of the capitals on alex ovechkin hitting eight95 yesterday in Long Island. You referenced once he hit 500, you thought, okay, that was quick. Maybe 895 is possibly within sight. For me, it was when he started chasing Gordy Howe down, like 802. I thought, oh, wow, this guy's going to have Gretzky in his sights, which always felt like an impossibility. I'm curious how you have felt Ovechkin has handled this

because, you know, all he knows is DC, all he knows is the caps, he's been the cap in there forever, but English is his second language. It's pretty incredible how comfortable he seems to be in terms of handling media now and speaking with the media compared to, you know, when he was drafted 18, 19 years old. How has he kind of handled the spotlight, something he's very familiar with, but this is a unique kind of chase that I'm sure the whole marketplace and the whole fan base has been jumping on board with. What have you made of kind of his body language and his approach the last two or three months?

It's a great question. Thank you for asking it. And I was sort of conditioned to the response when I did an interview recently with Cal Ripken, Iron Man and baseball 2131 which was passed 30 years ago in 1995 and I said Cal you had the media crush all the press conferences and availabilities radio and TV and print Alex is going through the same procedures now. Everybody wants a piece. This was all inclusive.

This was consuming for the team, his teammates, for Alex. And I thought the communication staff for the Cavaliers did a great job of at times that they had to insulate Alex, they could, but he is such a front man and has always been. He loves that spotlight and yes he still will shy away on occasions due to what he feels like is not the greatest command of the English language but honestly the more people that are in the room the better he gets. It's more difficult for him when it's one-on-one with just a camera and a turnaround monitor that's when he gets self-conscious when he's surrounded by

people he loves it and I'm thrilled with the way he responded yesterday in his speech afterwards and for me I think the perception has changed and it did when he got it across the finish line when the team as an organization became a champion in 2018 I think the perception of Alex changed and it wasn't just from jumping in the fountains and having a blast like he did all summer. I think there's been a humility there and one of the great things in our business is we get to meet these guys at 20 years old and now Alex is pushing 40 and has two children. You see the maturity. you see the humility.

Last week or within the last 10 days, the game in St. Paul where he brought the guys back out of the dressing room to congratulate Marc-Andre Fleury. Those are the kinds of things now that I want people to know. That's the kind of Alex Ovechkin that I've seen and known for the longest of times. And I think the perception started to change once he became a legitimate Stanley Cup champion with his teammates.

Everybody knew about all the individual accolades and they continue to add up and 900 goals is on the horizon. But more than anything what Alex wants is two. And that's two Stanley Cups. Well this is maybe his best chance since 2018 with how well this team's been playing and I guess we'll get you out of here with that question Joe like now that the dust is settled what would you

expect how do you think Ovechkin plays the rest of this season into the playoffs and and how does the team possibly build off this going into the playoffs where they're gonna be the number one seed in the East? Guys he's on a ridiculous heater and he's 39 years of age. If he doesn't break his leg in November, doesn't miss 16 games, he might have been right there with Dreisaitl again for another Rocket Richard. That's what makes this so incredible. But they put together, they being Brian McClellan and Chris Patrick, president and GM in the offseason. In Brian's words, they were able

to thread the needle. They were able to keep the caps extremely competitive as Alex Ovechkin was approaching an all-time great milestone. And they've had a phenomenal season and a lot of that has to do with the coaching staff. And I think almost assuredly Spencer Carberry will be the coach of the year in the NHL. I expect them to play better than they've been playing of late. Let's be honest, they haven't been good lately. I think a lot of the guys have been consumed with getting Alex this incredible milestone and now it's back to winning. What worries me all of a sudden is a Logan Thompson injury and Alexi Protis injury. All season long you don't get to 49 wins as fast as they did in the hundred separate points,

et cetera, et cetera, without being healthy. They've been really healthy all throughout. And now these injuries are cropping up. That's part of the game. Nobody's going to give them a pity party. I think they're a legitimate candidate. I know the betting public really considers though, the Western teams as the better ones and the ones that have the best chances.

But I just look at that Atlantic division with Toronto and Florida and Tampa and know that should Washington get to a third round, that would be an incredibly intense matchup. But they're going to have a difficult matchup getting out of the first round if it's Montreal, the second round if it's Carolina. Nothing's easy. You guys know that it's the hardest tournament to win in sports, but I think they're in a good place and I know, I know they want to play better in these last five games. Joe, just quickly before we do actually get you out of here, I just want you to touch

on your partner being involved yesterday. How special was it to have Locker, who experienced his own health issues, for him to get back in time to witness all that stuff? It must have been pretty awesome for you and him to share that together. Oh, Brian, Jeff, Jonas, I mean, yeah, there were times without a doubt on Friday especially where I was tearing up. Alan May did a wonderful job subbing in for locker. Craig had open heart surgery in early February.

And just like any ex-athlete, he's setting target dates. I want to be back on March 30. I'm like, Craig, this isn't a sprained ankle. This isn't a twisted knee. But when you know it, he's special enough to do it. And the doctor care and the cardiac team that took care of him was just phenomenal. To get him back this way.

And there's a line, there's a spell during a recent broadcast where I could see Blocker saying to Ovi, hey, wait for me. And yesterday after the game, well after the post game show, we go downstairs and the party is still going and the press conferences are still going and What makes me tear up the most is the bear hug that Ovechkin gave Locker In the hallway outside of the team room. That's what this is all about. And that's what he's all about. He's I Just think that that shows you what kind of a leader he can be and how important the

people around him are. Every time the cutaway shots to mom and wife and the children and I just couldn't help but wish that his dad Mikhail could have been there to see that and I hope he's watching from from heaven as to see his son achieve what is maybe a number that we will never see broken. I know we said that when Gretzky did it 30 some odd years ago. This one is spectacular and you guys in Toronto have a player who might approach it if he stays healthy and if he has the desire to play that long in Austin. All of those guys, Matthews and Dry Cytl, on and on and on.

The game is in such great shape but Ovechkin set a standard here terms of goals it's gonna be hard to reach yeah there is no doubt about that man it is a big gap between him and whoever is chasing him now it's pretty incredible what we just witnessed enjoy the rest of the season and into the future Joe really appreciate you doing this today fellas my pleasure anytime thank you Thank you. You got it. Joe Beninati joining us. Capital's play-by-play announcer.

Hey, who invited climate action to the party? We did. Hey, I'm Shannon Burns. And I'm Sarah Christie. Together, we host the Earth Day Party Podcast. Where the guest list is full of climate experts sharing their advice on how we can protect our planet. Everything from avoiding microplastics

to sustainable fashion, to getting a prescription to spend time in nature. Plus, we hear protect our planet. Everything from avoiding microplastics to sustainable fashion, to getting a prescription to spend time in nature. Plus, we hear from David Suzuki. This is a party where everyone is invited. The Earth Day Party Podcast on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.