Ovechkin can overcome Gretzky’s record, but not his own past or politics

It was a cold January night at Moscow’s famed Luzhniki Palace of Sports, just 21 years ago but in a completely different world.

George W. Bush was in the White House. He had just looked into the eyes of Russia’s new President, Vladimir Putin. Afterward, Mr. Bush infamously said he’d seen into Mr. Putin’s soul and decided this was someone he could trust.

On the ice that night, an 18-year-old kid wearing the blue-and-white jersey of Moscow Dynamo grabbed a loose puck in the neutral zone and accelerated across the blue line as the opposing defencemen scrambled backward. After a series of fakes, he fired a snapshot from the high slot past the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv goaltender, breaking what had been a scoreless tie, then dove and jubilantly slid on his knees back toward his teammates. It proved to be the game-winning goal.