Alex Ovechkin has reached 30 goals in a season for the 19th time in his 20-year NHL career, adding to the league record he set last season with his 18th.
The Washington Capitals captain got his latest milestone goal Tuesday night at home in a 3-1 loss to the Calgary Flames. He beat Dan Vladar with a one-timer on the power play 4:52 into the third period, sending the crowd into chants of “Ovi! Ovi!”
Ovechkin joined Teemu Selanne, Johnny Bucyk and Gordie Howe (who did it three times) as the only players in hockey history to score 30-plus goals in a season at age 39 or older.
Scoring his 883rd career goal and fourth in the past two games puts Ovechkin 12 back of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s mark of 894 that had long seemed unapproachable. Adding this to his hat trick Sunday against Edmonton, Ovechkin is now on pace to pass Gretzky in early April long before the regular season is over.
The top team in the Eastern Conference lost in regulation in Washington for the first time since Nov. 23, ending a 16-game home point streak.
Ovechkin entered the season 42 short of breaking the regular-season record by “The Great One.”
The 39-year-old Russian was on pace to get to 895 in February before breaking his left leg in a shin-on-shin collision in November. He missed 16 games but resumed his pursuit at Toronto in the Capitals’ first game out of the Christmas break.
Ovechkin already owns the NHL records for power-play goals and shots on goal.
He also has 135 game-winning goals, tied for the most with Jaromir Jagr. Ovechkin has scored on 181 goaltenders and counting, breaking Jagr’s record by beating Leevi Merilainen of the Senators with No. 874. Ovechkin has 178 multi-goal games, second to Gretzky (189).
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Ovechkin earlier this season became the 60th player to record 700 career assists. He joined Gretzky, Howe, Jagr, Marcel Dionne and Phil Esposito as the only players with 700 goals and 700 assists.
Gretzky has held the record since scoring his 802nd goal on March 23, 1994, to pass Howe. He added 92 more before retiring in 1999 after a total of 1,487 games over 20 seasons.
Gretzky holds 55 NHL records and even if his goals mark falls to Ovechkin, which he has said he is excited about, two seem truly untouchable: 2,857 total points and 1,963 assists, which is more than anyone else has in goals and assists combined.
If adding playoff goals, which do not count toward the record, Gretzky has the most of those, as well, with 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 Russia-based KHL.
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