Nearly at the end of his 21st —- and potentially final -— NHL season, Alex Ovechkin continues to make history almost every time he hits the scoresheet. And on Wednesday, in the Capitals’ 4–1 win over the Senators, he did it again.
After deflecting a Rasmus Sandin centering pass off his right skate, Ovechkin beat Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark and scored his 25th goal of the season, tying Hockey Hall of Famer Gordie Howe for the most 25-goal seasons in NHL history.
The goal, Ovechkin’s 922nd of his career — the most all-time — put the Capitals up 1-0 eight minutes and nine seconds into the second period. It was the third career goal he’s scored on Ullmark
After hugging his teammates, Ovechkin fist-bumped his two sons, Ilya and Sergei, through the glass. Sergei notably appeared to be wearing his dad’s gifted hat from Aliaksei Protas, featuring a Screaming Eagle and his nickname Ovi.
Slapshot then turned the Ovechkin goal counter at Capital One Arena to 922 to great applause.
Ovechkin has now hit the 25-goal mark in every season except for the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, where he came up just one tally short and lit the lamp 24 times in 45 games (0.53 G/GP).
Ovechkin is the sixth player in NHL history to score 25 goals at age 40 or older per Capitals PR, joining Gordie Howe (44 in 1968-69 and 31 in 1969-70), Johnny Bucyk (36 in 1975-76), Teemu Selanne (31 in 2010-11 and 26 in 2011-12), Jaromir Jagr (27 in 2015-16), and Dean Prentice (26 in 1972-73).
The tally also marked Ovechkin’s 450th career goal scored at home, passing Gordie Howe (449) for the second-most home goals in NHL history.
Ovechkin’s also now one goal away from 1,000 in his career, regular season and playoffs combined (922 regular season goals and 77 playoff goals). His 922nd goal came on the same night Capitals defenseman Cole Hutson made his NHL debut and scored the first of his career.
“I don’t get tired of [the history], do you?” Tom Wilson said postgame. “It keeps you coming back to the rink, gives you something to write about. It’ll be quiet when he’s not playing anymore. You’ll have to come up with some different stories.”
