Alex Ovechkin found paydirt on a former teammate on Wednesday night.
Ovechkin scored the 919th goal of his career on a third-period power play, beating Seattle Kraken Philipp Grubauer.
The 40-year-old winger was the beneficiary of a pinpoint passing play between Jakob Chychrun and Ryan Leonard, sweeping the puck into the yawning net at the far post. Ovechkin’s goal, his 22nd of the season, made the score 3-1 Seattle with 17:30 remaining in regulation. The Kraken would go on to win 5-1, sealing the victory in front of their home fans at Climate Pledge Arena.
The goal marked the fourth career goal Ovechkin scored on Grubauer since he’s left DC. The German netminder previously spent six seasons with the Caps from 2012–13 through 2017–18, notably serving as Braden Holtby’s backup as the team won its first Stanley Cup championship in 2018. Grubauer posted a record of 43-31-11 along with a 2.36 GAA and a .923 save percentage in 101 games for the Capitals.
The goal marked Ovechkin’s 330th career power-play goal — 56 more than second-place Dave Andreychuk who finished his career with 274. Ovechkin also passed Marcel Dionne (811) for the sixth-most road points in NHL history with the tally per Capitals PR.
The point was the 1,668th point (919g, 749a) of Ovechkin’s 1,545-game career — 10th most of all time.
