Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin is the NHL's all-time leader in goals scored, and he did it in typical fashion. As the Capitals entered the New York Islanders zone on Sunday afternoon, Ovechkin was on the left side, got the puck, and he wired a laser wrist shot past Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin. Goal #895 was the record breaker and it occured on the power play at 7:26 into the second period of a 4-1 Islanders win. It cemented Ovechkin as one of the greatest of all-time.
Capitals Alex Ovechkin's history of important goals
Ovechkin was a good goal-scorer when he entered the league in the 2005-06 season. He would make an impact almost immediately and would keep that scoring touch through the game today. While he is known for parking himself on the left side of the power play and shooting rockets, he has scored in other ways. Those will be discussed later but now we look back at Ovechkin's milestone goals:
Goal #1 was scored against Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Pascal LeClaire on October 5, 2005 Goal #100 was scored on October 12, 2007 against the New York Rangers and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist in a 3-1 loss. Goal #200 was scored in a 5-4 loss against Jonathan Quick and the Los Angeles Kings. Goal #300 was scored in a 3-2 overtime win against the Toronto Maple Leafs and James Reimer. Goal #400 was scored in an empty net, giving the Capitals a 4-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes. Goal #500 came against the Ottawa Senators and goaltender Craig Anderson in a 7-1 win on January 22, 2016. Goal #600 came against goaltender Connor Hellebyuck and the Winnipeg Jets in a 3-2 overtime win. Goal #700 was scored on February 22, 2020 in a 3-2 loss against Mackenzie Blackwood and the New Jersey Devils. Goal #800 was part of a hat trick in a 7-3 win against the Chicago Blackhawks and Petr Mrazek.
This is only another feather in the cap as a productive NHL player. In his 20-year career, he has played in nine all-star games. He has won the Rocket Richard trophy nine times for the league's best goal-scorer, and won a Stanley Cup in 2018. He is 11th all-time in points with 1,618 and has 6,847 shots, which is the best in NHL history.
Going further into his 895 goals scored, he has 565 even strength goals, five short-handed goals, 32 hat tricks, 14 40-goal seasons, 516 goals scored at home, and 379 goals on the road. He has 392 goals scored from the left circle o above it and has 191 one-timer goals.
NHL records
BY scoring 895 goals, Ovechkin has set records along the way. His dynamic shot has led him to placing him among or above the best in NHL history, and he is still going. Below are the records he has set in his NHL career:
Goals scored- 895 Power-play goals- 325 Overtime goals-27 30-goal seasons-19 Rocket Richard trophies-9 Empty net goals-65 Game-winning goals- 136 (tied with Jaromir Jagr)
Some other interesting facts about Ovechkin's goal history includes he has scored against 183 different goaltenders and has scored the most against current Minnesota Wild goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury (28). Center Nicklas Backstrom has assisted on the most Ovechkin goals (279), followed by John Carlson (158), Evgeny Kuznetsov (110), and MIke Green (70) round out the top four.
Ovechkin has scored the most goals against the Winnipeg Jets (57), followed by the Philadelphia Flyers (52), Carolina Hurricanes (52), and Tampa Bay Lightning (51).
Former record holder, Wayne Gretzky, was in attendance for the record breaking goal on Sunday. After the game, Gretzky and Ovechkin were posing for pictures with the historic puck. Islanders goaltender Sorokin was also in the pictures, gifting Ovechkin his game-used stick from the game.