Alex Ovechkin has scored so many goals during his 17-year career in the National Hockey League that many of the things he’s accomplishing are mind-boggling.
For instance, on Sunday, Alex Ovechkin’s third-period goal scored against the Seattle Kraken was the 745th tally of his career.
After passing Marcel Dionne and Brett Hull earlier in the season, Ovechkin trails only Jaromir Jagr (766), Gordie Howe (801), and Wayne Gretzky (894) on the all-time goals list. That’s hard to process.
Then there’s the other thing the goal accomplished. The Kraken tally gave Ovi back the unique distinction of scoring against every active NHL team. The NHL made this fancy graph so it can really sink in for you.
The Capitals also celebrated the feat by posting the first goal he scored against every team.
31 teams faced.
31 teams scored upon.Guess there still is a first time for everything for the #Gr8 after all these years!#ALLCAPS | @ovi8 pic.twitter.com/6cyNekjcTB
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 23, 2021
The NHL’s chart shows us that Ovechkin has absolutely dominated the Tampa Bay Lightning (49 goals in 74 games), Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers (48g in 67 games), Toronto Maple Leafs (41g in 50 games), St. Louis Blues (18g in 20 games), Detroit Red Wings (20g in 29 games), and Minnesota Wild (17g in 17 games) during his career. He’s even scored three times already against the other recent expansion team, the Vegas Golden Knights.
Alex Ovechkin (@ovi8) has now scored against every active NHL opponent. 👀 pic.twitter.com/2KQat6IoWZ
— NHL (@NHL) November 22, 2021
According to Reddit Hockey commenter Baboshinu, Ovechkin “has scored on 17 different teams in his first time playing against them.”
The goals chase and a normal offseason to workout has clearly reinvigorated Ovechkin.
Posting 2 goals and 1 assist to help the @Capitals toward a 4-0 win over the Sharks on Saturday night, ageless wonder Alex Ovechkin now owns a fantastic 14 goals & 15 assists through 18 games. That ties him for 2nd on this legendary list of sensational veteran starts to a season pic.twitter.com/IfHn68k2h1
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) November 21, 2021
It’s been very fun to watch.
Ovechkin's season so far from a box score viewpoint is kind of insane. He is Jagr'ing the model so to speak. He's throwing less hits and blocking less shots, but has 17 more points through yesterday than we expected (from our Fantasy Projections page).https://t.co/bE6Wyvc9AA pic.twitter.com/qlMElAjQ1T
— EvolvingWild (@EvolvingWild) November 23, 2021
Headline illustrations via Pixabay
