Alex Ovechkin is one goal closer to passing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time mark of 894. And it came on a sensational individual play with the Seattle Kraken’s net empty.
After the Capitals won a defensive zone faceoff, the puck eventually got rimmed around the sideboards to Ovechkin who boxed out his defender and got a shot off, scoring from 132 feet away.
The goal was Ovechkin’s 22nd in 32 games played this year and the 875th of his distinguished career. The Capitals went on to win 3-0, earning their third shutout this month.
Ovechkin found paydirt with three minutes and 28 seconds remaining in the third period. Trevor van Riemsdyk and Jakob Chychrun were awarded the assists.
“They don’t ask ‘How?’ they ask ‘How many?'” Washington forward Aliaksei Protas said smiling. “You’ve got to score that goal from the defensive zone. With all the accomplishments that he has, he fully deserved that.”
The empty-netter extended Ovechkin’s all-time record to 62 in the category.
OVI IS NOW 20 GOALS AWAY FROM BREAKING WAYNE GRETZKY'S GOAL RECORD 🚨 pic.twitter.com/sGJZbHtBvK
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 24, 2025
“That was a tougher empty-netter,” Carbery said. “I know everybody will say, ‘empty-netter,’ but that was a little bit tougher. But good for him to seal it.”
Capitals fans at Climate Pledge Arena began cheering and chanting “Ovi!” after he scored.
“That was good,” Carbery added. “You can see the ‘Rock The Red’ comes alive a little bit. The signs start to come out.”
The Capitals captain is now on pace to break the record on April 10 vs. Carolina — the Caps’ fifth to last game of the season. Averaging 0.69 goals per game, Ovi is on track to score 45 times in his age-39 season.
Ovechkin had two shots and two hits in 15:24 of ice time against the Kraken.
