🏒 Alex Ovechkin ties Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL goals record — with The Great One on hand

[Canuck Conservative]

By Christian Arnold and Andrew Battifarano
NY Post (Apr. 4, 2025)
https://nypost.com/2025/04/04/sports/alex-ovechkin-ties-wayne-gretzkys-all-time-nhl-goals-record/

Alex Ovechkin tied the NHL record for most career goals, putting him side-by-side with The Great One, Wayne Gretzky.

The Capitals star scored the history-tying goal — the 894th of his career — on Friday when he found the back of the net at the 6:13 mark in the third period against the Blackhawks on home ice at Capital One Arena.

It was his second goal of the night after he notched No. 893 in the first period.

With Washington on the power play in the final frame, the Capitals entered the zone with Ovechkin skating down the left side.

John Carlson fed Ovechkin, who was standing in the left circle before he fired a snap shot past Chicago netminder Spencer Knight.

“I’m still a little shaking and still can’t believe it,” Ovechkin said while sitting next to Gretzky after the Capitals win. “It’s history. It’s great for the game. It’s great to do it here. It’s special.”

Gretzky, on hand to witness the moment in Washington’s 5-3 win, was excited to see his record get tied.

“Alex’s been great for the game, great for Washington, great for his own country [Russia] — it’s wonderful,” he said in a TV interview during the game. “I’m proud of him, I’m proud of what I accomplished. That’s what makes our game so wonderful.” ...

[Canuck Conservative]

NOTE that Ovetchkin got 2 last nite to tie Gretzky's record, could easily have made it a hat trick by scoring an empty-net goal, but he refused to go out for that, saying he wanted to score the record-breaker on an actual goalie.
Gotta respect that.



FBI Director Kash Patel, "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky, and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman attend the game in Chicago, Apr. 4, 2025.

[jmyrlefuller]

The impressive part is that Ovechkin managed to achieve it in almost exactly the same number of games. How, when Gretzky scored at a seemingly obscene pace in the late 1980s and early 1990s? Well, mainly because Ovi was more consistent. Gretzky tailed off in the mid-90s when goalies like Hasek, Roy and Brodeur and new defense strategies drove goal totals way down. In contrast, other than a couple of years near the beginning of his career, Ovechkin played almost his entire career during a "dead puck" era. I can't even really say that, because that period between the two was a true "dead puck" era, but the amount of scoring in the 21st century is nowhere close to what everyone was doing at Gretzky's peak. It's a huge accomplishment that he's still scoring at a high rate even as he is about 20 years into his career now, and lost a full year (admittedly what would've been a rookie year) and a huge chunk of another to lockouts.

I think Ovechkin's record is more impressive than Gretzky's.

[Canuck Conservative]

One could argue that Gretzky's record is more impressive, since the NHL in the last few years has "done away with the red line", meaning fewer offside calls.

The NHL rules are now also a lot more protective of star players, something Wayne didn't have in his playing days (though he did have Dave Semenko).

Gretzky changed the game, with those wraparound goals (common now, but new then) and the dominant emphasis on skating skills.

They're both great, generational players!

[DCPatriot]

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/44560659/capitals-alex-ovechkin-passes-wayne-gretzky-nhl-goal-king

Capitals' Alex Ovechkin passes Wayne Gretzky as NHL goal king

Greg Wyshynski
Apr 6, 2025, 01:48 PM ET

NEW YORK -- Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin scored goal No. 895 on Sunday, passing Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky to become the NHL's all-time goal scoring leader.

Ovechkin, on a pass from longtime teammate Tom Wilson, netted the record breaker in a 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders with a power-play goal past fellow Russian Ilya Sorokin with 12:34 left in the second period of Sunday's game -- the 1,487th game of his career, the same as Gretzky's career total.

With Gretzky and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in attendance, the game came to a standstill as players and fans celebrated the historic moment.

"They say that records are made to be broken, but I'm not sure who's going to get more goals than that," said Gretzky, before shaking Ovechkin's hand.

...continued at above link


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2Kii2xUHa0

[DCPatriot]

[Canuck Conservative]

Apparently Kash Patel is quite the hockey player himself, sometimes joining the Capitals for practice skates ...

[Hoodat]

Go Caps!

[DCPatriot]

@Canuck Conservative

The CAPS being my local home team, I still want to be fair and throw this out there:  Don't get me wrong...am in awe of Ovie's accomplishment.

How many teams were there in the NHL during Wayne Gretsky's tenure?

I still remember when the only 2 Canadian teams were the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadians.  Now there are SEVEN teams hailing from Canada.

It would be fair to say that the professional hockey league talent may be watered down a bit today, wouldn't it?

[Canuck Conservative]

How many teams were there in the NHL during Wayne Gretsky's tenure?

The NHL added a lot in the 1990s (Gretzky retired in 1999), so the answer is probably about 24-26.

But Gretzky was just so dominant ... he's the only player to get more than 200 points in a season, and he did that four times!
He retired with 61 NHL records!!!

Now that's great ...

[DCPatriot]

The NHL added a lot in the 1990s (Gretzky retired in 1999), so the answer is probably about 24-26.

But Gretzky was just so dominant ... he's the only player to get more than 200 points in a season, and he did that four times!
He retired with 61 NHL records!!!

Now that's great ...