Alex Ovechkin scored his 879th career goal against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night, beating Ivan Fedotov in the first period with a one-timer from the slot. Fedotov was the 180th different goaltender Ovechkin has scored on, extending the Capitals captain’s NHL record. The tally also marked Ovi’s fourth straight game with a goal — the 34th time he’s done so in his career — tying him with Mario Lemieux for the most ever.
Per NHL PR, Ovechkin’s tally was also his 35th goal scored against Flyers head coach John Tortorella — the most of any head coach during his 20-year career in the NHL.
The Ovi goal pushed Torts past Lindy Ruff (34).
NHL head coaches who have surrendered the most Alex Ovechkin goals
Featuring every head coach Ovechkin has scored at least 7 regular season goals against.
| RANK | OPPOSING COACH | TEAMS | G | GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Tortorella | TBL, NYR, VAN, CBJ, PHI | 35 | 71 |
| 2 | Lindy Ruff | BUF, DAL, NJD | 34 | 56 |
| 3 | Peter Laviolette | CAR, PHI, NSH, NYR | 33 | 52 |
| 4 | Claude Julien | MTL, NJD, BOS | 27 | 47 |
| 5 | Alain Vigneault | VAN, NYR, PHI | 26 | 38 |
| 6 | Peter DeBoer | FLA, NJD, SJS, VGK, DAL | 24 | 44 |
| 7 | Jon Cooper | TBL | 22 | 33 |
| 8 | Mike Babcock | DET, TOR | 20 | 28 |
| 9 | Paul Maurice | TOR, CAR, WPG, FLA | 19 | 43 |
| 10 | Dan Bylsma | PIT, BUF, SEA | 19 | 28 |
| 11 | Jack Capuano | NYI | 19 | 26 |
| 12 | Mike Sullivan | BOS, PIT | 17 | 42 |
| 13 | Michel Therrien | PIT, MTL | 17 | 28 |
| 14 | Bob Hartley | ATL, CGY | 17 | 23 |
| 15 | Ken Hitchcock | PHI, CBJ, STL, DAL | 17 | 19 |
| 16 | Rod Brind’Amour | CAR | 15 | 18 |
| 17 | John Stevens | PHI, LAK | 15 | 16 |
| 18 | Jacques Martin | FLA, MTL, OTT | 14 | 33 |
| 19 | Todd McLellan | SJS, EDM, LAK, DET | 14 | 28 |
| 20 | Barry Trotz | NSH, NYI | 14 | 23 |
| 21 | Bruce Cassidy | BOS, VGK | 13 | 26 |
| 22 | John Hynes | NJD, NSH, MIN | 13 | 23 |
| 23 | Rick Tocchet | TBL, ARI, VAN | 13 | 21 |
| 24 | Jeff Blashill | DET | 13 | 16 |
| 25 | Bruce Boudreau | ANA, MIN, VAN | 13 | 15 |
| 26 | Gerard Gallant | CBJ, FLA, VGK, NYR | 12 | 18 |
| 27 | Tom Renney | NYR, EDM | 12 | 18 |
| 28 | Ron Wilson | SJS, TOR | 12 | 16 |
| 29 | Randy Carlyle | ANA, TOR | 11 | 20 |
| 30 | David Quinn | NYR, SJS | 11 | 18 |
| 31 | Bill Peters | CAR, CGY | 10 | 19 |
| 32 | Craig Berube | PHI, STL, TOR | 10 | 17 |
| 33 | Joel Quenneville | COL, CHI, FLA | 10 | 17 |
| 34 | Claude Noel | CBJ, WPG | 10 | 13 |
| 35 | Mike Yeo | MIN, STL, PHI | 10 | 10 |
| 36 | Kevin Dineen | FLA | 10 | 9 |
| 37 | Scott Gordon | NYI, PHI | 9 | 12 |
| 38 | D.J. Smith | OTT | 9 | 9 |
| 39 | Guy Boucher | TBL, OTT | 8 | 22 |
| 40 | John Anderson | ATL | 8 | 12 |
| 41 | Guy Carbonneau | MTL | 8 | 12 |
| 42 | Dave Hakstol | PHI, SEA | 7 | 18 |
| 43 | Jared Bednar | COL | 7 | 15 |
| 44 | Dave Tippett | DAL, PHX, ARI, EDM | 7 | 15 |
| 45 | Ted Nolan | NYI, BUF | 7 | 14 |
| 46 | Darryl Sutter | LAK, CGY | 7 | 13 |
| 47 | Don Granato | BUF | 7 | 11 |
| 48 | Brent Sutter | NJD, CGY | 7 | 11 |
| 49 | Todd Richards | MIN, CBJ | 7 | 10 |
| 50 | Andrew Brunette | FLA, NSH | 7 | 7 |
| 51 | Pat Quinn | TOR, EDM | 7 | 5 |
Tortorella tops the list, though he’s coached against Ovechkin 15 more times than the next closest bench boss. One could even argue that Torts has had some success against Ovi, holding the Russian left wing to 0.492 goals per game. Ovi’s career average is .600.
The coaches scored on list incredibly includes three of Ovechkin’s former bench bosses: Peter Laviolette (3rd, 33 goals), Barry Trotz (20th, 14 goals), and Bruce Boudreau (25th, 13 goals).
Four of the head coaches Ovechkin averages a goal or more against, including Mike Yeo (10g/10gp), Kevin Dineen (10g/9gp), DJ Smith (9g/9gp), and former Capital Andrew Brunette (7g/7gp).
