Boston Bruins right winger David Pastrnak scores a lot of goals. In 2019-20, as a 24 year old, he shared the “Rocket” Richard Trophy with then-34-year-old Alex Ovechkin when both scored exactly 48 times. But if you ask him, it’s the only time he was satisfied to tie for a victory.
“I always said I was so much happier to, honestly, win the Rocket Richard with him than alone,” Pastrnak told NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin on Tuesday. “And that’s true, honest speaking that I was much happier that we shared it together. It was 10 times better than winning it alone and having him behind me.”
Despite that concession, Pastrnak remains ultra-competitive. Since the pair shared the Rocket, Pastrnak has scored 203 goals, 19 more than Ovechkin, though he has missed just 18 games compared to Ovechkin’s 44.
Ovechkin now sits on the verge of history — entering Tuesday’s contest against the Bruins just five goals from passing Wayne Gretzky for the all-time record (894) — and Pasternak is one of many hoping he reaches the milestone.
“It’s motivational to see him keep scoring all those goals,” Pastrnak said of Ovechkin’s chase. “Definitely a special goal-scorer. He’s going to break it soon.”
Pastrnak believes Ovechkin’s longevity in the league, which has afforded him the chance to chase Gretzky in the first place, is due to his “very impressive” ability to find new ways to score.
“Obviously we all know how hard it is to score in this league, and he’s been doing it for over two decades,” he said. “The way he found a way every year, he scores different goals, you obviously see way less one-timer goals from him, guys taking it away and he still found a way.”
Ovechkin’s one-timer slapshot, particularly from the left faceoff circle that’s been dubbed his “office,” has become his trademark move since he entered the league in 2005. This season, however, he’s been more of a hybrid worker, scoring just 15 of his 37 goals from the left side of the ice (seven from the circle). The other 22 tallies have mostly come in front of the crease or from empty-net pot shots. He’s also scored a larger chunk of his goals at even strength, recording just nine of his 37 goals in 2024-25 on the power play.
In the Caps’ 8-5 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday, Ovechkin notched career goal No. 890 in the latest example of his atypical scoring style.
“A beautiful deflection right in front of the net,” Monumental Sports Network’s Craig Laughlin said of the goal. “Three guys around him and he still figures out a way to get a stick on it!”
Bruins head coach and former Capital, Joe Sacco, knows Ovechkin’s scoring prowess all too well. As a longtime assistant in Boston, he had a single focus for his team’s penalty kill when facing the Caps: Don’t let Ovechkin score.
“Working in this league for a while now and having the opportunity to oversee the penalty kill a lot of those years, some nightmares for sure with him on the power play,” he recounted to Benjamin.
Indeed, Ovechkin has been something of a boogieman for Sacco and Co. He’s tallied 59 career points (29 goals, 30 assists) against the Bruins and scored 29 times on the power play.
“I think that’s the one thing that jumps out to me is his consistency and the ability to still be able to produce after all these years, knowing that you put a game plan in place to try to stop that,” Sacco said.
He agreed with Pastrnak that Ovechkin’s adaptability in an evolved era of NHL hockey is a credit to his legacy as he chases the record.
“It’s an incredible milestone that he’s trying to get to here,” he said. “But [what’s impressive is] the ability just to adapt over all these years because you’re always looking at the players on the other team, what you can do to prevent them from scoring, especially the top guys. And the great ones still find a way to get it done.”
