Alex Ovechkin has carved his name atop the history books.
The Washington Capitals left winger is now the all-time leading scorer in NHL history after scoring career goal No. 895 on a power play goal at 7:26 of the second period Sunday against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Long Island. The record-breaking goal pushed Ovechkin past Wayne Gretzky on the league’s career scoring list.
The highly anticipated moment came when the 39-year-old fired a slap shot past Islanders goaltender Ilya Soroykin to score his team-leading 42nd goal of the season. After breaking the 31-year-old regular season record, the game was immediately paused with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman joining the Russian hockey star for an on-ice celebration that highlighted the feat and his contributions to the sport. Bettman and Gretzky were both in attendance at the game, having followed Ovechkin since Friday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks at Capital One Arena. In that game, Ovechkin tied Gretzky’s record of 894 goals with two tallies in the Capitals’ 5-3 victory. Capitals owner Ted Leonsis was also on the ice Sunday for the celebration after Ovechkin’s goal
The Islanders went on to win the game 4-1, improving to 34-32-10. The Capitals, who are pushing for the postseason, leading the Metropolitan division, fell to 49-19-9 with the loss. The Stanley Cup playoffs begin April 19th.
Gretzky retired in 1999, five years after passing the late Gordie Howe on the all-time goals record list; Howe scored 801 goals in his 26 NHL seasons. Gretzky, who told Ovechkin to save his game-used memorabilia leading up to the historic moment, is still the all-time leader in multiple other categories, including assists (1,963) and total goals including playoffs (1,016). Ovechkin has 72 playoff goals, 49 short of Gretzky’s overall total.
Aside from this major milestone, Ovechkin has reached 40 goals in a season for a 14th time in his career, the most in league history, despite sitting out 16 games at the beginning of this season because of a broken left fibula.
Ovechkin has earned more than $160 million in career earnings over his 20 seasons in the league and has used the record chase to draw more attention to his charitable causes. The former first overall pick partnered with Hockey Fights Cancer and the V Foundation for Cancer Research earlier this month to raise funds for pediatric cancer research.
Heritage Auctions currently has a collection of 11 sweaters from hockey greats, including three of Ovechkin’s, up for auction.
(This story has been updated with the result of Sunday’s game.)
