Alex Ovechkin reached another staggering milestone in the Washington Capitals’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.
Scoring from his office on the power play, Ovechkin tied the game 2-2 in the third period to reach 1,000 combined goals in his career, accounting for both his regular-season tallies (923) and playoff goals (77). Only Wayne Gretzky (1,016) has more combined goals in NHL history.
Ovechkin’s Capitals teammates were especially excited after the tally, piling onto him along the boards. Spencer Carbery even admitted that he’d seen players forcing the puck to Ovechkin in recent matchups.
“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,’” Carbery said. “And then come to find out that [Ovechkin is] going for his 1,000th goal.”
Ovechkin, meanwhile, had a relatively subdued reaction to the achievement. When his milestone was announced to the Capital One Arena crowd, Ovechkin stayed in his seat atop the boards and waved, contrasting his usual lap around the neutral zone after big moments. After the game, he barely acknowledged the milestone, telling reporters, “It’s always nice to reach something, and it was (an) important goal as well.”
Ovechkin’s attitude towards 1,000 might be best explained in a recent Russian-language interview he did with Fonbet’s ‘FONtour NHL.’ While speaking to retired pro soccer player Andrey Arshavin and former NHL player Nikita Filatov, Ovechkin appeared to dismiss the importance of the the combined-goals stat, suggesting there’d always be another milestone or record he’d have to break.
Per a sports.ru transcription of the interview and an English translation via Google Translate:
Alex Ovechkin: Every goal is a record. So, it’s, what, 900 now?
Andrey Arshavin: 998.
Alex Ovechkin: No, it’s together.
Andrey Arshavin: Do you also count goals without the playoffs, but only in the regular season?
Alex Ovechkin: Of course.
Andrey Arshavin: Why? I asked a question, but it’s generally accepted that the playoffs are more important and harder to score. Isn’t that true?
Alex Ovechkin: Of course.
Andrey Arshavin: Why don’t records count towards playoff goals then? You’ve spent 20 years here; you should understand their philosophy.
Alex Ovechkin: Well, okay. Before that, there was just one thing: breaking Gretzky’s record.
Andrey Arshavin: Yes, you did it.
Alex Ovechkin: I broke Gretzky’s record, and now, immediately after that, I need to break the record taking into account the playoffs.
Nikita Filatov: So, essentially, in this league you can constantly come up with new records.
Alex Ovechkin: After this, they will say that we need to beat it, taking into account the friendly matches.
Andrey Arshavin: Are friendly matches and playoffs different things?
Alex Ovechkin: I’m just telling you that people make things up. No one here is saying that it’s taking the playoffs into account.
Andrey Arshavin: Why? I’m just curious.
Nikita Filatov: I think it’s the history of the league, I guess. That’s how they thought, that’s how it was. And everyone decided to continue thinking that way.
Alex Ovechkin: Here they count exactly 82 games, but for some reason we count from the playoffs.
The NHL has long siloed regular-season and playoff statistics, with more weight given to regular-season career records. Separating the two helps to level the playing field, preventing the length of a team’s playoff run from affecting the most prominent records.
Gretzky, who won four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers and played in the championship series six times during his career, suited up in 208 NHL Stanley Cup Playoff games over his 20-year career, recording 122 goals (0.59 goals per game).
Ovechkin has played in 47 fewer playoff games than Gretzky (161), scoring 77 goals (0.48 goals per game).
Ovi now sits 16 behind Gretzky for the all-time combined goals record.
