On Tuesday night Alex Ovechkin became the third player in NHL history to score 800 goals. Ovechkin scored a hat trick against the Chicago Blackhawks, spurring a standing ovation from the United Center crowd.
The NHL celebrated the historic moment by putting together a video of all 800 of Ovechkin’s goals.
The video is fifteen minutes and 31 seconds long and set to the William Tell Overture. That sounds like a long time for each goal, but when you do the math, it’s only 1.16 seconds per goal.
The video helps put in perspective just how incredible the accomplishment is.
If that doesn’t do it for you, the NHL posted a list and description of all of Ovi’s milestone goals, spanning his first tally in 2005 to last night’s hat trick goal 17 amazing years later.
Via an NHL press release:
MILESTONE MARKERS: FROM 1 TO 800 (AND OTHERS IN BETWEEN)
A look at some of the major milestone goals in Alex Ovechkin’s career to date:
* Goal No. 1: On Oct. 5, 2005, Ovechkin beat Blue Jackets goaltender Pascal Leclaire at 7:21 of the second period for his first NHL goal. He added his second tally just 4:30 later to become the first player in Capitals history to score multiple times in his League debut.
* Goal No. 50: On April 13, 2006, Ovechkin scored his 50th NHL goal against Thrashers goaltender Mike Dunham to become the fourth rookie in NHL history to tally at least 50 times in one season. He finished with 52 goals in 2005-06, the third most in one season by a rookie, and remains the only active player to net 50 in his first campaign.
* Goal No. 100: On Oct. 12, 2007, Ovechkin scored his 100th NHL goal (167 GP) to become the 10th player in the League’s expansion era (since 1967-68) to reach the milestone in fewer than 170 career games. It was his first-ever goal at historic Madison Square Garden (5 GP) and fourth against Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (whom he went on to beat a total of 24 times in 42 career regular-season meetings).
* Goal No. 163: On April 3, 2008, Ovechkin beat Lightning goaltender Karri Ramo for his 65th and final goal of the 2007-08 season – his highest total in one campaign to date. That came less than two weeks after he became the 19th different player in NHL history to score at least 60 times in one season (a feat accomplished by only two players since Ovechkin). That also helped him capture his first career Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy.
* Goal No. 200: On Feb. 5, 2009, Ovechkin netted his League-leading 37th goal of 2008-09 and 200th of his NHL career when he beat Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick in their first-ever meeting. The 23-year-old became the fourth player in NHL history to reach the 200-goal mark within his first four seasons, joining Wayne Gretzky, Mike Bossy and Mario Lemieux.
* Goal No. 300: On April 5, 2011, Ovechkin (25 years, 200 days) netted a tying goal in Toronto – beating James Reimer in their first head-to-head meeting – to become the sixth-youngest player in NHL history at the time of his 300th career tally. The only players to do so at a younger age were Wayne Gretzky (22 years, 321 days), Mario Lemieux (23 years, 179 days), Dale Hawerchuk (24 years, 308 days), Mike Bossy (25 years, 60 days) and Steve Yzerman (25 years, 176 days).
* Goal No. 400: On Dec. 20, 2013, Ovechkin scored into an empty net in Carolina for his 400th career goal in the third game of a four-game goal streak – the only “century mark” milestone goal on which Nicklas Backstrom recorded an assist. At the time, it was the 15th goal streak of four or more games in Ovechkin’s career – a number that has since increased to 28 and has been achieved by only two others in League history: Mario Lemieux (34x) and Wayne Gretzky (30x).
* Goal No. 473: On April 2, 2015, Ovechkin scored twice against Carey Price at Bell Centre in Montreal and overtook Peter Bondra as the Capitals’ all-time goals leader with his first tally of the night. At the time, he was one of three active players who held their franchise’s goals record – New Jersey’s Patrik Elias and San Jose’s Patrick Marleau were the others.
* Goal No. 500: On Jan. 10, 2016, playing in front of family and Capitals faithful at Verizon Center, Ovechkin became the fifth-fastest in NHL history to reach the 500-goal mark (801 GP) with his first of two tallies against Ottawa’s Andrew Hammond. It was his second multi-goal game in as many days, the fourth (and most recent) time he achieved that feat.
* Goal No. 600: On March 12, 2018, Ovechkin registered one of his eight multi-goal games of 2017-18 – hitting the milestone with his second tally against Connor Hellebuyck – as Washington edged Winnipeg in overtime. The fourth-fastest in NHL history to reach the 600-goal milestone, Ovechkin ended the season with four goals in his final three games to claim the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy with 49 goals. While the final game of the regular season saw him fall just shy of his eighth 50-goal season, his final playoff contest would see him hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time.
* Goal No. 700: On Feb. 22, 2020, Ovechkin became both the second-youngest and second-fastest player to join the NHL’s 700-goal club with his tally in New Jersey against Mackenzie Blackwood, joining seven others in the prestigious group. The only player to reach the 700-goal mark at a younger age or in fewer games than Ovechkin (age 34, 1,144 GP) was all-time goals leader Wayne Gretzky (age 29, 886 GP).
* Goal No. 787: On Nov. 5, 2022, Ovechkin scored against Coyotes netminder Karel Vejmelka to become the all-time goals leader for a single franchise by passing Gordie Howe (786 w/ DET) with his 787th career goal. Ovechkin had tied Howe two days earlier with goal No. 786 against none other than Howe’s former club, the Red Wings.
* Goal No. 800: On Dec. 13, 2022, Ovechkin opened the scoring just 24 seconds into the game, added a second first-period marker and completed the hat trick on Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mrazek to join Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe as the third player in NHL history to reach the 800-goal milestone.
Ovechkin scored those 800 goals against 165 different goaltenders.
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Full Coverage of Alex Ovechkin’s 800th Goal
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
