WASHINGTON, DC — Nearly a year after Alex Ovechkin broke the NHL goals record, he added another line to his lengthy resume.
With a goal against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday afternoon, Ovechkin became just the second player in NHL history to record a combined 1,000 goals between the regular season and playoffs.
“It’s always nice to reach something, and it was (an) important goal as well,” Ovechkin said postgame.
Sunday’s tally marked the 923rd regular-season goal of Ovechkin’s career, with an additional 77 playoff goals to reach the four-digit mark. Only Wayne Gretzky — whose regular-season goals record Ovechkin broke on April 6, 2025 — has more combined goals with 1,016 (894 regular-season goals, 122 playoff goals).
The Capitals are no strangers to watching Ovechkin make history: his pursuit of Gretzky’s record last spring was the stuff of legends, and he earned his 900th regular-season goal last November. Still, that didn’t make Ovechkin’s latest achievement any easier to wrap your head around.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Jakob Chychrun. “So happy for him. I love him to death, and (it’s) an honor to be a part of it.”
Unlike the media circus that surrounded Ovechkin’s regular-season record, Sunday’s goal came with relatively little fanfare. Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery only recently learned that Ovechkin was approaching 1,000.
“Honestly, until a few weeks ago, I didn’t even know,” he told reporters postgame. “Going into the season, I had no idea. We knew (he was nearing) 900 (regular-season goals). And so this is just recent, of this coming up, the combined playoff and regular season goals.”
Ovechkin’s teammates, however, were plenty aware of the upcoming milestone, occasionally to the befuddlement of the Capitals’ coaches. Carbery noted that he’d seen players forcing the puck to Ovechkin in recent games.
“We actually noticed as a staff the last couple games, there were a few instances where guys were passing to him in spots where I was like, ‘That seems odd. He had a pretty good chance there.’ And then come to find out that [Ovechkin is] going for his 1,000th goal. Just another accolade for him and his incredible career, to get 1,000 goals.”
That 1,000-goal career has stretched over 21 seasons, long enough for young Ovechkin fans to grow up and join him on the ice. Cole Hutson, who got his first NHL assist on the milestone goal, hadn’t even been born when Ovechkin made his Capitals debut in 2005.
Connor McMichael, another player on the ice for the goal, reflected back on his younger self when discussing Ovechkin’s achievement.
“Ever since I was a kid watching the NHL, he was one of my idols,” McMichael said. “I don’t take a day for granted, playing with him. Every milestone that goes by, it seems like they just get cooler and cooler. So it’s definitely a privilege to share the same ice sheet as him.”
Justin Sourdif, too, has been open about his childhood love for Ovechkin, growing up a Capitals fan in Surrey, British Columbia. The kid who donned an Ovechkin jersey at six or seven years old could hardly have imagined he’d be on the ice to see his hero reach quadruple digits.
“It was cool,” Sourdif said. “Obviously, 1,000 career goals, it’s amazing… We’re all super happy for him. We just wish we could have gotten the win with it, make it a little bit better in the dressing room after.”
Now age 40, Ovechkin has seen his scoring pace slow, though his 26 goals in 2025-26 still lead all Capitals players. Excluding the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, Ovechkin’s current 30-goal pace would be the lowest of his career, and he’s found more success with grittier netfront plays than the sniper shots of years past.
But the goal against Colorado was classic Ovechkin: power play, left faceoff circle, one-timer, slapshot — the sort of goal that’s defined his career. It marked the first power-play tally he’d scored at Capital One Arena all season, and the first regular-season PPG at home since he tied Wayne Gretzky’s record on April 4, 2025.
His goal also tied the score 2-2 with 5:43 remaining in the third period, allowing Washington to earn a much-needed standings point by forcing the game to overtime.
“(Reaching 1,000) on home ice and doing it in the way (he did), I love,” said Carbery. “On the power play, his office, huge goal to tie the game in the third. It’s a big goal. So, yeah, it’s a big moment.”
With 11 games left on Washington’s regular-season schedule in what may well be Ovechkin’s final season, he now sits 16 behind Gretzky for the all-time combined goals record.
