With an extra cradle of the puck and a flick of the wrists, Alex Ovechkin moved one goal closer to overtaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goals record of 894.
Ovechkin found paydirt with 6:59 remaining in the third period against the Ottawa Senators Thursday night, sending a shot from the point off the far post and in. The lamp lighter narrowed the Senators’ lead to 4-3. The Capitals would lose in overtime to the Senators 5-4.
“4-2 we still feel like we could come back,” Ovechkin said postgame. “Big point for us. We fight, we battle. It was a good game.”
The goal marked Ovechkin’s 876th career goal, bringing him to within 19 of history. With 23 goals in 35 games this season, Ovechkin is averaging 0.66 goals per game and is on pace to pass Gretzky on April 13 at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The tally while up a man extended Ovi’s NHL PPG record to 318 — forty-four more than the former record holder, Dave Andreychuk, who scored 274 in his career.
Ovechkin also assisted on both of Dylan Strome’s third-period goals, giving him his first three-point night since November 17 when he scored his 31st career hat trick against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Ovechkin now has 1,587 points, putting him four points away from passing Phil Esposito (1,590) for the eleventh-most points in NHL history.
Thursday’s goal against Anton Forsberg was the second time Ovi has dented the twine on the Swedish netminder — the 126th goalie he’s scored on in his career. Ovechkin’s first goal against Forsberg came on December 6, 2017.
he's 19 away pic.twitter.com/UxVFVEmY7S
— jovechkin 🍉 (@notafan_jo) January 31, 2025
