'Unbelievable moment': Ovechkin sets NHL goals record, surpassing Gretzky
Alex Ovechkin is the NHL's new goal-scoring king.
The Washington Capitals superstar broke the NHL goals record he had shared with Wayne Gretzky by scoring his 895th career tally Sunday against the New York Islanders.
"This is something crazy," Ovechkin said postgame, according to Sportsnet. "I'm probably going to need a couple more days, maybe a couple weeks to realize, 'What does it mean to be No. 1?' ... It's huge. It's an unbelievable moment."
He accomplished the feat by whipping home a power-play goal from the left faceoff circle before the midway mark of the second period and was promptly mobbed by his teammates. Tom Wilson and Dylan Strome assisted on the tally.
"What a day, huh?" Ovechkin said as he was celebrated right after his iconic goal. "Like I always say all the time, it's a team sport and without my boys, the whole organization, the fans, the trainers, coaches, I would never stand there, and obviously I would never pass The Great One.
"So, fellas, thank you very much, I love you so much."
Ovechkin established the new benchmark in his 1,487th contest, the same number of games Gretzky finished his career with. Gretzky scored his 894th and final goal in his 1,479th outing.
The Great One was in attendance Sunday at UBS Arena to witness the history.
"I can tell you firsthand, I know how hard it is to get 894, (so) 895 is pretty special," Gretzky said.
He added, "They say records are made to be broken, but I'm not sure who is going to get more goals than that."
Ovi also shouted out two of his longtime teammates who couldn't help him with his pursuit on the ice this season because of injuries.
"I know Nicklas Backstrom is here, T.J. Oshie, fellas I love you," he said. "We did it boys, we did it."
The Capitals captain then made sure to thank Islanders netminder and fellow Russian Ilya Sorokin.
"Thank you, Ilya Sorokin, (for letting) me score 895," he said. "I love you, brother."
Sorokin said Ovechkin asked him for his stick in honor of the milestone moment, and the goalie obliged, per Newsday's Andrew Gross.
Ovechkin and Co. may have been in enemy territory on Sunday, but there were plenty of Capitals fans in the crowd. Cheers of "Ovi!" rained down from the arena when Islanders forward Casey Cizikas took the tripping penalty that sent Washington on that fateful power play.
The tally was Ovechkin's first against Sorokin in his fourth game against the goaltender. Ovi scored on the Isles' Semyon Varlamov in March 2022 when he passed Jaromir Jagr for third place on the all-time goals list with No. 767, per NHL.com's Tom Gulitti.
Unsurprisingly, Ovechkin went right back to business after making history.
"Finally, no one's going to ask me about when I'm going to do it," he said during the second intermission. "It's over, right now we just have to focus on our game."
The Islanders ended up beating the Capitals 4-1.
Ovechkin matched Gretzky with a two-goal performance Friday versus the Chicago Blackhawks.
The sniper last moved up the all-time ranks on Dec. 23, 2022, when he bagged his 802nd career tally to overtake Gordie Howe in second place. Ovechkin scored his next 93 goals in 177 games to pass Gretzky two years, three months, and 15 days later.
Gretzky held the all-time goals crown for more than 31 years after he moved past Howe on March 23, 1994.
Gretzky's record was once viewed as unbreakable. Goaltending advancements, more detailed defensive systems, and an overall deeper talent pool have made goal-scoring much more difficult to come by in the modern era. Consider that there was an average of 6.995 goals per game during Gretzky's 20-year NHL career from 1979-80 to 1998-99. During Ovechkin's 20-year career, the average is 5.714.
But Ovechkin achieved the impossible with impeccable consistency and longevity. He earned the nickname "The Russian Machine" for his astonishing ability to stay healthy. Through his first 19 seasons, Ovechkin never missed more than 10 games in a single campaign and averaged 2.7 games missed per season.
That changed this season, though, when Ovechkin broke his leg in November and missed 16 games. That injury made his chances of breaking the record this season seem improbable, but Ovechkin, at 39, has remarkably scored 42 goals in 61 games.
Ovechkin has reached 50 goals in a season nine times, tied with Gretzky and Mike Bossy for the NHL record. But The Great Eight owns NHL records for most seasons with at least 40 goals (14), 30 goals (19), and 20 goals (20).
Ovechkin scored a career-high 65 goals in 2007-08 - his only 60-goal season.
Gretzky dominated the high-flying '80s with at least 70 goals in four consecutive seasons, topping out with an NHL-record 92 in 1981-82. But Gretzky, more of a playmaker by nature, saw his goal-scoring erode as he got older and league scoring decreased. He netted only nine goals in his final season before retiring at age 39.
The Capitals drafted Ovechkin first overall in 2004 out of Dynamo Moscow in the Russian Superleague. He made his debut in 2005 after the lockout and took the league by storm with 52 goals and 106 points in his first season, earning him the Calder Trophy as the NHL's rookie of the year.
Ovechkin, known for his lethal one-timer from the left half-wall, has won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the NHL's leading goal-scorer nine times. He's also won one Art Ross Trophy, three Hart Trophies, and three Ted Lindsay Awards.
He's scored 18.6% of Washington's goals since his first NHL season. Sunday was also the 21st anniversary of the Capitals winning the 2004 draft lottery and the right to select Ovechkin first overall.
Ovechkin led the Capitals to the promised land at 32 when the franchise won its first Stanley Cup in 2018. He took home the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after tallying 15 goals and 12 assists in 24 games. He's scored 72 career playoff goals - the 15th most ever - which don't count toward his record total in the regular season.
Ovi also owns NHL records for most power-play goals, most overtime goals, most goalies scored against, and most goals with one team.