Ovechkin, who is in his 20th season in the League, scored his first two goals in his NHL debut against Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Pascal Leclaire on Oct. 5, 2005. Leclaire was the first of the NHL-record 183 different goalies Ovechkin has scored against. Ovechkin had not scored against Sorokin before Sunday.
“What a day, huh?” Ovechkin said. “Like I always said, all the time, it’s a team sport and without my boys — the whole organization, the fans, the trainers, coaches — I would never stand here and obviously I would never pass the ‘Great One.’ So, fellas, thank you very much. I love you so much. I know Nicklas Backstrom is here, T.J. Oshie, fellas, I love you. We did it, boys. We did it.
“Thank you to Sorokin to let me score 895. I love you, brother. And the last thing, all of you fans, the whole world, Russia, we did it, boys. We did it. It’s history. Yeah!
“And the most important thing, to my mom, my family, my beautiful wife, my father-in-law, my beautiful kids, thank you. I love you so much, and without you, without your support I would never stand here. So, I love you guys.”
The Moscow, Russia, native also owns the NHL records for power-play goals (325) and overtime goals (27) and, with goal No. 894, broke a tie with Jaromir Jagr for the most game-winning goals (136).
“I’m still a little shaking and still can’t believe it,” Ovechkin said after tying the record in Washington on Friday. “It’s nice that my family is here, my mom, my wife, my kids, father-in-law, lots of friends came from lots of different cities. It’s history. It’s great for the game. It’s great to do it here. It’s special.”
This is Ovechkin’s 14th season scoring at least 40 goals, increasing his NHL-record total. He also owns the NHL record for most 30-goal seasons (19) and is tied with Gretzky and Mike Bossy for most 50-goals seasons (nine).
“Obviously, you never thought you were going to get those kind of numbers or years, but you just want to try to do your best,” Ovechkin said.
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