Alex Ovechkin has scored on a record 181 different goaltenders during his 20-season career in the NHL. Five of those goaltenders are already in the Hockey Hall of Fame, while several others will surely be inducted once they hang up their skates.
Given the extensive list of goalies he’s made pluck pucks out of their nets, Ovechkin is probably the single-most expert on which modern-day goaltender is the toughest to score on. Yet, when Sport-Express’ Igor Rabiner asked him who tops his list, Ovi couldn’t pick one.
“It’s hard to play against every hockey player, including the goalie,” Ovechkin told Rabiner, as translated by Google Translate. “If you get into an NHL team and are considered [the] number one, it can’t just happen. All the goalies here are strong.”
Since Ovechkin couldn’t give a specific name, we must turn to the statistics. And according to NHL stats, there are only 29 total goalies that have faced an Ovechkin shot in either the regular season or the playoffs and never allowed him to score.
These are those incredible 29 humans.
NHL goalies that faced an Ovechkin shot and never surrendered a goal
| Goalie | Games played | Ovechkin shots saved |
|---|---|---|
| Michal Neuvirth | 9 | 25 |
| Mike Condon | 7 | 18 |
| Mathieu Garon | 7 | 16 |
| Manny Legace | 3 | 14 |
| Kevin Lankinen | 3 | 14 |
| Joey Daccord | 4 | 14 |
| Vitek Vanecek | 4 | 13 |
| Joel Blomqvist | 3 | 11 |
| Manny Fernandez | 2 | 10 |
| Rob Zepp | 2 | 10 |
| Akira Schmid | 4 | 8 |
| Joel Hofer | 2 | 8 |
| Garret Sparks | 1 | 6 |
| Erik Ersberg | 1 | 5 |
| Jocelyn Thibault | 1 | 5 |
| Ilya Sorokin | 3 | 4 |
| Jeff Zatkoff | 2 | 4 |
| Anthony Stolarz | 1 | 4 |
| Erik Kallgren | 1 | 4 |
| Devon Levi | 1 | 4 |
| Lukas Dostal | 1 | 3 |
| Jean-Francois Berube | 1 | 3 |
| Arvid Soderblom | 1 | 2 |
| Curtis Joseph | 1 | 2 |
| David Aebischer | 1 | 2 |
| Braden Holtby | 1 | 2 |
| Collin Delia | 1 | 2 |
| Trent Miner | 1 | 1 |
| Jakub Dobes | 1 | 1 |
Note: Data aided by previous RMNB research from 2023
Four goalies have been added to the above list this season: Anaheim’s Lukas Dostal, Pittsburgh’s Joel Blomqvist, Colorado’s Trent Miner, and Montreal’s Jakub Dobes. Blomqvist has faced the most heat from Ovechkin, stopping 11 of his shots across three separate games.
There are six goalies, Justus Annunen, Chris Holt, Henrik Karlsson, Magnus Hellberg, Kristers Gudlevskis, and Gilles Senn, who have played against Ovechkin but did not need to stop a shot from him. None of the six played an entire game against Ovechkin. For example, Karlsson relieved Calgary Flames starter Miikka Kiprusoff for just 6:05 of ice time against the Capitals during an October 30, 2010 matchup.
Holt is the lone goalie from Ovechkin’s rookie campaign, 2005-06, to play against Ovechkin that season and never allow him to score. Holt made just two NHL appearances in his career for the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues. His lone action against Ovechkin came in relief of Henrik Lundqvist for 10:24 of ice time on December 3, 2005.
Three of the goalies to stop shots are former teammates of Ovechkin with the Capitals, including fellow 2018 Stanley Cup champion Braden Holtby. Michal Neuvirth and Vitek Vanecek are two of the most successful goalies to ever face him, indicating they may have picked up a thing or two on how to see his shot after thousands of practice reps.
Holtby is also the only Vezina Trophy winner on the list, stopping two shots from Ovechkin in his only career appearance against his former team with the Dallas Stars in 2022. Curtis Joseph and Ilya Sorokin are the other lone past Vezina finalists.
Despite the best efforts of goalies around the NHL, Ovechkin is still just nine goals shy of passing Wayne Gretzky for sole possession of the NHL’s all-time goals record. Current projections have him on pace to tie Gretzky on April 10 vs Carolina and break the record on April 12 at Columbus.
