As Alex Ovechkin lined up for the opening faceoff against the Ottawa Senators, he made NHL history.
With the drop of the puck, Ovechkin became just the 24th player to ever play in 1,500 career games. He also joined an even more exclusive club, becoming, fittingly, the eighth player in NHL history to play 1,500 games with one franchise. Ovechkin joins Gordie Howe, Patrick Marleau, Nicklas Lidstrom, Alex Delvecchio, Shane Doan, Ray Bourque, and Steve Yzerman, who also achieved the milestone.
Ovechkin, 40, has been the epitome of durability throughout his legendary 21-year NHL career. Of the 1,575 games that the Capitals have played since he made his NHL debut in 2005, Ovechkin has missed just 76 of them — 51 of which due to injury.
The longest stretch of games he has missed occurred last year, when, at 39 years old, he missed just 16 games after breaking his left leg. After returning from the injury, he finished the season with 44 goals, including the record-breaking 895th of his career.
“Not many guys play a thousand games,” Ovechkin said Thursday. “And you can see, it gets harder and harder every year to get a full year, because the game changed, lots of injuries, and you’re going to miss two or three games, and it’s going to cost you in the future if you want to make that number.”
Ovechkin played his 1,000th game in April 2018, just two months before hoisting the Stanley Cup in Las Vegas. Among active players, only Avalanche defenseman Brent Burns (1,505) has made more appearances than Ovechkin, hitting the 1,500-game milestone on October 11.
Per the Capitals, the team has a 829-487-183 (.614 point percentage) record with Ovechkin in the lineup and a 36-35-5 record (.507 point percentage) in the 76 games without him. Ovechkin’s 829 wins as a skater are also the most among active players and the 11th most all-time.
Ovechkin also comes into Saturday night’s contest just one goal away from becoming the first player in NHL history to score 900 career goals. In his career, Ovechkin has scored 38 goals in 60 career games against the Senators.
