Alex Ovechkin has broken Wayne Gretzky’s record for the most goals in NHL history by scoring the 895th of his career.
The Washington Capitals’ captain made history on Sunday against the New York Islanders by beating fellow Russian Ilya Sorokin on a power play with 12:34 left in the second period. He took a perfect pass from longtime teammate Tom Wilson and fired a laser past Sorokin.
He dived onto the ice to celebrate as the many Capitals fans who had travelled to New York for the game chanted “Ovi! Ovi!” from the stands.
Just as they did after he scored No 894, teammates mobbed the 39-year-old Ovechkin to celebrate the accomplishment, which replaced a record that had stood for 31 years. Ovechkin then hugged the Capitals staff members and coaches on the bench and went through a handshake line with the Islanders as crew members set up for the celebration ceremony.
“Wayne, you’ll always be the ‘Great One’ and you had a record that nobody ever thought would be broken,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said to open the festivities. “But Alex, you did it. You’ve been amazing.”
Gretzky congratulated Ovechkin and his family for the accomplishment, adding, “They say records are made to be broken, but I’m not sure who’s going to get more goals than that.”
With Gretzky, wife Janet, Bettman and Ovechkin’s wife, mother and two sons standing nearby, Ovechkin addressed the crowd and said: “I’ve always said, all the time, it’s a team sport … Fellas, thank you very much. I love you so much.”
Gretzky’s total of 894 goals had long seemed unapproachable. Ovechkin passed it even after missing 16 games in November and December because of a broken leg, a testament to his durability and a knack for putting the puck in the net consistently for two decades. He surpassed 40 goals this season for a 14th time – two more than Gretzky and also the most in league history.
Even before this, Ovechkin owned the NHL records for power-play goals, shots on goal and the most goalies scored against, now adding Sorokin to that list. Only Gretzky has more multi-goal games, and Ovechkin earlier this season became just the sixth player with 700 goals and 700 assists, joining Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Jaromir Jagr, Marcel Dionne and Phil Esposito.
The chase by the Great 8, a nickname honoring his jersey number, captured attention from North America to Ovechkin’s native Russia, where billboards and goal-counters cheered on and tracked his effort. It helped Ovechkin that his team is one of the best in the NHL this season, defying expectations.
Gretzky broke Howe’s record a little over 31 years ago, when he scored 802 on 23 March 1994. He added 92 more before retiring in 1999 after a total of 1,487 games over 20 seasons.
Even with this record falling to Ovechkin – which the Canadian has said he is excited about – Gretzky holds 55 NHL records, and two seem truly untouchable: 2,857 total points and 1,963 assists, the latter of which is more than anyone else has in goals and assists combined.
For NHL playoff goals, which do not count toward the record, Gretzky has the most (122). Ovechkin has 72. Gretzky also had another 56 in the World Hockey Association regular season and playoffs, while Ovechkin has 57 from his time in the KHL, Russia’s top league.
Returning to Russia to play in front of family and friends is an option at some point for Ovechkin, who has one season left after this one on the five-year, $47.5m contract he signed in 2021, which took him through age 40 to give him enough time to chase Gretzky’s record. Instead, he got it done earlier than just about anyone could have realistically expected.
