WASHINGTON (AP) — Sunday Alex Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record, the “Great One” enjoyed watching Ovi’s breaking his record. But this story started long ago.

Gretzky was in hot pursuit of Gordie Howe’s record in the spring of 1994. Howe was there when Gretzky tied and passed him. His father, Walter Gretzky, told him to be there, be supportive and be proud if anyone approached the record again.

Heeding his father’s advice, Gretzky made his first in-person appearance for Ovechkin in time to see the Washington Capitals captain score his 893rd and 894th goals to tie his mark. But Gretzky has been helping Ovechkin along the way to this point far before Friday night.

It was December 2022, and Ovechkin stalled out just short of passing Howe for second on the all-time list, going four whole games without a goal.

“I called him and I said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to relax out there,’” Gretzky recalled. “And he’s like, ‘You know, I’m pressing.’ And I said, ‘For most people, that’s 20 games without a goal.’”

Gretzky told Ovechkin he would be at 900 goals before he knows it. Not so fast, though Ovechkin gets his first opportunity at No. 895 and sole possession of one of hockey’s biggest records on Sunday at the New York Islanders.

Of course, Gretzky will be there. Ovechkin wouldn’t have it any other way.

Sitting beside him, Ovechkin turned and said: “Thank you, Wayne, for your support, for your kindness. It’s great.”

“I’m very happy to be in this spot,” Ovechkin said. “I’m always gonna be grateful for it and thanks to Wayne, how he supports me, how he always gives me advice to be patient, don’t put yourself in a stress position. I’m happy right now.”

The happiness was like a wave throughout the night, from a pregame ceremony honoring teammates Ovechkin won the Stanley Cup with in 2018 through his two goals and a video montage of the path to 894.

After the game was over, Ovechkin and Gretzky shared a moment inside the Capitals locker room, a hug and some words before taking pictures to celebrate the occasion.

“You could tell he was genuinely happy for ‘O,’” longtime teammate Tom Wilson said. “To see those two guys standing together and embracing, giving each other a hug and a congratulations, I don’t think 10-year-old Tom would have thought he would ever be in that room to see that happen. Just an incredible moment between the two best goal scorers of all time.”

At some point, whether it’s Sunday, Thursday at home against Carolina or next weekend in either half of a back to back against Columbus, Ovechkin should surpass Gretzky.

Asked what he might tell Ovechkin when that happens, Gretzky quipped, “Why’d you do it?”

In reality, Gretzky will likely have a smile on his face like Howe did on March 31, 1994, because he knows what this chase means for the sport.

“It’s really been a wonderful journey for everyone,” Gretzky said. “It’s great for hockey. I’m so happy for the league. I’m so proud of Alex. … Great for the people in Washington and hockey fans all over the world.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jonah Heim’s walk-off single with two outs in the ninth inning to center field scored Josh Smith and the Texas Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 on Sunday for their fifth consecutive win.

Smith had a two-out double down the left-field line, his third hit to match a career high, off Edwin Uceta (0-1).

Smith and Heim, hitting seventh and eighth in the order, combined for five of Texas’ seven hits.

Jacob Webb (1-0), the last of three Rangers relievers, stranded the potential go-ahead run at second in the ninth.

Neither of Texas’ top late-inning relievers, Luke Jackson (five saves) nor Chris Martin (one), was available because of recent workloads.

The Rays were swept in three games in their first road series of the season. They will return home for a 13-game homestand that will tie a franchise record. Their home schedule is being played outdoors at Steinbrenner Field, while enclosed Tropicana Field is repaired following damage done during Hurricane Milton last October. That scheduled is designed to minimize games during the area’s rainy summer.

The Rangers have won seven straight over the Rays going back to last season. They’ve beaten Tampa Bay nine straight at Globe Life Field.

Corey Seager’s solo home run in the sixth inning was his first RBI of the season, ending his longest season-starting drought at seven games.

Key moment

With the Rays’ José Caballero on second with two outs in the ninth, Webb struck out Taylor Walls. Rangers relievers struck out five over the final four innings.

Key stat

The Rangers are 8-2, their .800 winning percentage leading the AL despite having a league-worst .192 team batting average.

Up next

Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (1-0, 2.00 ERA) will begin a road series Monday against Chicago Cubs left-hander Justin Steele (2-1, 6.89). Rays right-hander Shane Baz (1-0, 0.00) will face Los Angeles Angels right-hander Kyle Hendricks (0-0, 3.00) in Tuesday’s series opener.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Florida has gone from being picked to finish sixth in the rugged Southeastern Conference to pushing all the way to the final Monday night of the season.

Now the Gators face a Houston team that just pushes teams around with its suffocating defense.

Big 12 champion Houston and Florida will meet in the national championship game in the Alamodome to wrap up only the second NCAA Tournament when all the No. 1 seeds made it to the Final Four.

Still, this title game matchup is quite a surprise, and features two teams that haven’t been this far in a long time. BetMGM Sportsbook had Florida listed as a 1 1/2-point favorite.

The Cougars (35-4) won their semifinal Saturday night by overcoming a 14-point deficit in the final eight minutes for a 70-67 stunner over Duke and freshman sensation Cooper Flagg, the AP national player of the year.

That was after Florida (35-4), with All-America guard Walter Clayton Jr. scoring 34 points, only had to come back from eight points down after halftime in its 79-73 win over SEC rival Auburn.

Houston, which has an 18-game winning streak, is in its first national championship game since back-to-back appearances in 1983 and 1984 during the Phi Slama Jama era.

This is Florida’s first since winning its back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007 under Billy Donovan. The Gators, with third-year coach Todd Golden, have an 11-game winning streak since a loss at Georgia at the end of February.

“It’s pretty incredible,” Golden said. “In three years, been fortunate to build a great staff that is aligned, that works really hard for each other. Then we’ve just accumulated a great group of guys on our roster. It took a little bit to get all these pieces together. But to a man, they all pull the same direction.”

The Cougars have won 30 of their last 31 games since two overtime losses over three days in a tournament in Las Vegas at the end of November. Their only loss since was 82-81 in OT on Feb. 1 to Texas Tech, an Elite Eight team. Their other loss this season: 74-69 to Auburn in the second game.

Coach Kelvin Sampson and Houston also made the Final Four four years ago, losing to eventual champion Baylor in the national semifinal in the NCAA tourney in a bubble in Indianapolis because of the COVID-19 pandemic. L.J. Cryer, now Houston’s leading scorer, was a freshman for the Bears on that title team.

Now the Cougars will play for a championship after being the first Texas team to make a Final Four held in the Lone Star State — after so much talk about the other teams that made it to San Antonio.

“This whole year, I’ve been trying to stay off social media and stuff like that. I really don’t see those type of things,” Cryer said. “I try just to listen to coach Sampson, and he believed we were the best team in the tournament, so that’s the only person I listened to.”

Florida entered Saturday’s semifinals ranked No. 2 in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency by scoring 129.1 points per 100 possessions, and Clayton had his second 30-point game in a row. He is the leading scorer in this NCAA tourney with 123 points (24.6 per game) and has made 18 of 32 shots (.563) with 8 of 16 3-pointers the past two games.

Houston was ranked first in adjusted defensive efficiency at 87.4 points per 100 possessions, and was one of only four schools — all the teams that made the Final Four — to rank among the KenPom.com top 10 for both offense and defense. The Cougars were at 123.9 points to rank 10th offensively.

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