Alex Ovechkin is just one goal away from breaking the NHL’s all-time goals record. Ovechkin tied Wayne Gretzky in DC on Friday with career goal number 894 and is on Long Island to try to pass him with 895 on Sunday afternoon.
Standing in his way will be a rare goaltender he has never beaten, Islanders number-one netminder Ilya Sorokin. The Russian backstop has been a brick wall against his fellow countryman in three previous career games against him, stopping four Ovechkin shots.
Sorokin is one of just 29 NHL goalies who have faced an Ovechkin shot and never given up a goal.
Sorokin would be the 183rd goalie on Ovechkin’s list after he added San Jose’s Georgi Romanov last month. Ovechkin set the NHL record for most goalies scored on, 179 different foes, earlier this season when he scored an overtime winner against Ottawa’s Leevi Merilainen on January 16.
In 71 career games against the Islanders, Ovechkin has scored 44 goals. He has yet to play against the Capitals’ Metropolitan Division rival this season, missing the team’s lone game against them in late November due to breaking his leg.
Sorokin is 28-23-6 this season with a 2.76 goals-against average, a .905 save percentage, and three shutouts. Per MoneyPuck, he ranks 21st among all goalies this year in goals saved above expected (12.6).
The Islanders beat the Minnesota Wild on Friday but have been poor overall recently, winning just four of their last 10 games. Sorokin got the win over Minnesota, making 27 stops on 28 shots faced and snapping a personal four-game losing streak in net.
