Alex Ovechkin is another step closer to history after tormenting his good friend Marc-Andre Fleury for perhaps the final time.
During a four-minute power play late in the second period, Ovechkin wound up and fired from the top of the circles, beating the Minnesota Wild goaltender for the 28th career time. The game was their 47th career time they faced each other in the regular season.
Ovechkin now has 871 career goals and trails Wayne Gretzky by 23 for a share of the NHL’s all-time goals record.
“That was a great [screen] by Tom and [Chychrun],” Ovechkin said to Monumental Sports Network’s Al Koken. “Yeah, we’ll take it.”
We sure will.
The goal was Ovechkin’s 318th career power-play goal — the most of all time. Dylan Strome got the primary assist, his 30th apple of the year. The tally came at the 15:08.
The power play came courtesy of Martin Fehervary, who made a personal sacrifice to the Hockey Gods. He lost a tooth due to a high stick from Marat Khusnutdinov.
dawg pic.twitter.com/0jv94TZrU4
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 3, 2025
Ovi’s tally marked the Capitals captain’s 18th goal in 22 games during the 2024-25 season and his third in four games since returning from a fractured fibula in his left leg. Ovi’s 0.81 goals-per-game mark leads the NHL per Stat Muse.
You know how this guy just missed 16 games with a broken leg?
He's still on pace to score over 50 goals this season.
— RMNB (@rmnb) January 3, 2025
The marker continues Ovechkin’s dominance over the Wild giving him 20 goals and 18 assists in 24 games against the Western Conference club. He averages 0.83 goals per game against them, the most vs any franchise. The same can be said for his points-per-game number of 1.61
