“It’s crazy,” Woll said. “You know he’s there. You know what he’s going to do, and he still scores. That’s just how good of a player he is.

“It’s pretty cool to be out there with guys like that. One of, if not the best goal-scorers of all time. He shoots the puck a lot so it’s fun to get to play against him.”

While annoyed with some of his team’s defensive work against Ovechkin, Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe couldn’t help but smile and joke about how tough an ask that can be.

“I guess we’re going to have to cover those one-timers in the pre-scout,” Keefe said. “World-class player and if we can get the two points and still allow him to add to his total, I guess we’ll take that. Everybody leaves somewhat happy.”

Ovechkin was matched in the game by Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews. Matthews, perhaps inspired by the matchup, notched two goals of his own in the contest. A third, which would have capped off his seventh hat trick of the year, was waived off due to a coach’s challenge for offside.

Despite his own personal success, Matthews still found time to show reverence to one of the league’s all-time greats.

“I think we’re all kind of running out of words to describe it,” Matthews said. “He’s the greatest goal-scorer of all-time. It’s always fun to play against him and still watch him get it done and the excitement and passion he gets when he scores goals. Obviously, we’d like to see him not score against us but when you’re that good, you’re bound to get opportunities and he makes good on them most of the time.”

Before the game, Ovechkin shared his hope that Matthews becomes the first player in the 21st century to hit the 70-goal mark in a season. The Maple Leafs superstar has 57 goals through 67 games this season. If he does so, Matthews would top Ovechkin’s 65-goal 2007-08 season which currently tops the 21st century leaderboard.

Max Domi, who assisted on both of Matthews’ tallies, described playing against Ovechkin as special.