Alex Ovechkin scored his 841st career goal in the Washington Capitals’ huge 2-1 victory over the Western Conference-leading Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
The second-period tally would stand up as the game-winning goal — the 127th of Ovechkin’s illustrious career, good for second most in NHL history.
Ovechkin scored after a strange play where Russian defenseman Alex Alexeyev found Connor McMichael wide open in the slot for a layup. But somewhow, McMichael missed the net entirely, hitting Ovechkin at the far post. The Great 8 then calmed down the puck and deposited it past Canucks goaltender Casey DeSmith for his 19th goal of the season — his fifth goal scored on the former Penguins ‘tendy.
“HOW DID I MISS THAT??” Connor McMichael said in the goal hug.
Ovechkin is now 53 goals behind Wayne Gretzky (894) for a share of the NHL’s all-time goals record and 8 behind record holder Jaromir Jagr (135) for the most game-winning goals of all time.
With one more tally, Ovechkin will also have the 19th 20-goal season of his career.
Alex Ovechkin scores his 19th goal of the season to put the Capitals ahead 2-1. Ovechkin is now one goal shy of reaching the 20-goal mark for the 19th time in his 19-season career.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 17, 2024
Since riding a camel during the Capitals’ bye week, Ovechkin has 10 goals in his last 19 games.
