Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin just accomplished something that practically guarantees his admittance into the Hockey Hall of Fame. The Russian machine scored his 500th career goal in his 801st game, becoming the fifth fastest player in NHL history to reach that milestone.
The goal, a power play tally, came on Senators goaltender Andrew Hammond. Jason Chimera and Andre Burakovsky assisted on the goal.
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Goal GIFs
Celebration GIFs
The Caps bench emptied and joined Ovechkin in a huge celebration at center ice.
Ovechkin getting mobbed by his teammates pic.twitter.com/Uh4rdERKat
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) January 11, 2016
Ovechkin’s father Mikhail took video on his iPhone. Ovechkin’s mother Tatyana cried in the stands. According to RMNB’s Rachel Cohen, Ovechkin blew her a kiss.
Mikhail and Tatyana Ovechkin react after Ovechkin's 500th goal. Ovi's mom was crying. pic.twitter.com/0UtMVZTkCW
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) January 11, 2016
The celebration and standing ovation lasted nearly three minutes. Ovechkin concluded it by clapping at and waving to the crowd.
Now let me blow your mind on just how amazing this accomplishment is.
- The only players that scored 500 goals faster than Ovechkin are legends Wayne Gretzky (575 games), Mario Lemieux (605), Mike Bossy (647) and Brett Hull (693).
- Ovechkin is the 43rd player in NHL History to score 500 goals. 77% of them are in the Hall of Fame.
- The only ten players to score 500 goals and not be in the Hall of Fame (yet) includes Jaromir Jagr (active), Teemu Selanne (eligible next year), Dave Andreychuk, Jarome Iginla (active), Mark Recchi, Keith Tkachuk, Pat Verbeek, Pierre Turgeon, Jeremy Roenick, and Peter Bondra.
- Ovechkin becomes the first Russian NHL player to ever reach the 500-goal milestone. The rest of the class consists of 32 Canadians, 5 Americans, 2 Finns, 1 Czech, 1 Swede, and 1 Slovak.
- Ovechkin, Jagr, and Iginla are the only three active players in the NHL to achieve this feat.
Here’s the full 500 member club list.
On top of that, Alex Ovechkin has been inarguably the greatest goal scorer of this generation.
- Ovechkin has scored 50 goals six times (2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2013–14, 2014–15).
- He’s lead the league in goals in five of his ten seasons in the league: 2008 (65 goals), 2009 (56 goals), 2013 (32 goals; lockout shortened), 2014 (51 goals), 2015 (53 goals).
- In years that are perhaps past his goal scoring prime (age 28-30), Ovechkin has lead the league in goals for three straight years.
- Since entering the NHL in 2005-06, Ovechkin has posted 148 more goals, 48 more points and 35 more multi-goal games than any other player.
- Ovechkin leads the NHL in goals since 2001-02 despite beginning his NHL career in 2005.
We say this a lot, but never take this player for granted. He’s good.
In fact, he’s one of the gr8est of all-time.
Congratulations, Ovi.
