Photo credit: Geoff Burke

The last time Alex Ovechkin scored a goal it was last year. It seems like forever ago. Santa had still not delivered my amazing Sega Genesis/NES emulator, Uncle Phil was still alive (gone too soon), and Marty McSorley still had a shred of dignity.

Ovechkin’s last goal was Saturday, December 21nd against the New Jersey Devils: a goalless streak of five games, 12 days, and 35 shots.

It ended Thursday night against the Carolina Hurricanes.

After knocking down a pass from Marcus Johansson out of mid-air, which was an amazing feat by itself, Ovechkin raced down the ice one-on-one against Canes defenseman Ron Hainsey.

Hainsey, who seemingly had the Russian machine perfectly marked with his stick, watched instead in horror as Ovechkin shot the puck off the blade of his stick, past Anton Khudobin’s extended glove, off the post and into the net.

You know Ovechkin’s due when junk like that goes in.

The goal was Ovechkin’s 31st tally of the year, and 402nd of his career. It was also — shot-wise — the third longest he’s gone without scoring a goal. His two previous longest droughts were when he put 41 shots on goal without a marker during November and December of 2010-11 and 38 shots without a goal in October and November of 2008-09.

During this stretch, Ovechkin’s gone from a 70-goal pace to a 62-goal pace. Feel free to leave your angry, disgruntled comments below.