NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Alex Ovechkin is just 21 goals shy of tying Wayne Gretzky's hallowed career record after scoring in the Washington Capitals' 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night.

Ovechkin blocked a shot and went the length of the ice with 58 seconds left to set up his No. 873 career goal, an empty-netter to seal the win. He added an assist in the game as well.

Ovechkin, 39, entered the season 42 short of breaking Gretzky's career record of 894 goals. The Russian, in his 20th NHL season, was on pace to get to 895 in February before breaking his left leg in a shin-on-shin collision in November. He missed 16 games but resumed his pursuit at Toronto in the Capitals' first game out of the Christmas break.

For the Capitals on Saturday, Ethen Frank got his first NHL goal; Tom Wilson and Andrew Mangiapane were responsible for the two others. Logan Thompson stopped 32 shots as the Capitals won for the second time in three games.

Filip Forsberg scored and Juuse Saros made 12 saves for the Predators, who have lost two straight.

One day after getting an assist in his NHL debut, Frank gathered a stretch pass from Matt Roy at the Nashville blue line and drove down the right side before beating Saros with a wrist shot from the lower part of the right faceoff circle at 8:30 of the third period to put the Capitals up 2-1.

Wilson scored the game's first goal at 9:03 of the second period.

Forsberg tied it with 3:46 remaining in the second. After going 18 games without scoring, Forsberg has goals in consecutive games.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.