Schmidt happily poses with his milestone puck. (Photo credit: Chris Gordon)

It took 25 games but, you guys, it finally happened: Washington Capitals defenseman Nate Schmidt scored his first NHL goal. It took the Minnesota-native 7 games to get his first NHL point and another 18 to record hit the back of the net.

It was a beauty.

After working hard down low, Martin Erat emerged from the fray to set up Schmidt with a beautiful saucer pass. Schmidt wound up and beat Nashville Predators goaltender Marek Mazanec to the far post.

Schmidt was very excited as he returned to the bench, enjoying congratulations with Caps’ first-line center Nicklas Backstrom.

GIFs by welshhockeyfan

After the game, Schmidt posed with his puck, and District Sports Page’s Katie Brown reported that Schmidt swiveled so that everyone could get a good picture.

Unfortunately, Schmidt was not pied. Alex Ovechkin owes us like 10,000 pageviews.