NHL legend Teemu Selanne took to Twitter on Thursday to salute Alex Ovechkin. The day before, the Capitals published a video of Ovechkin recreating the Finnish Flash’s shotgun goal celebration during practice.
“Beautiful @ovie 😂👍😊💪👏,” Selanne wrote.
Beautiful @ovie😂👍😊💪👏 https://t.co/WTFg3pbN4m
— Teemu Selanne (@TeemuSel8nne) August 6, 2020
Selanne originally did the celly on March 2, 1993, after scoring a hat trick against the Quebec Nordiques and breaking Mike Bossy’s rookie goal-scoring record. It was his seventh goal in two games.
“I was so pumped up for that third goal that I threw my glove in the air and shot it down,” Selanne said of the celebration.
Selanne would go on to score 76 goals in 84 games that year, the most of any season in his Hall of Fame career. Selanne would finish his career with 684 goals. Ovechkin passed Selanne for eleventh on the all-time goals list on January 13, 2020.
The classy Selanne, who believes Ovechkin will eventually pass Wayne Gretzky, congratulated him on Twitter.
👏Congrats @ovi8 keep it going my friend👏💪 Many many more to come (895…)😊 https://t.co/BCgp1G9gZQ
— Teemu Selanne (@TeemuSel8nne) January 14, 2020
Screenshot courtesy of @Capitals
