The Washington Capitals participant grew to become the all-time NHL scoring chief when he slotted objective quantity 895 towards New York Islanders.
Alexander Ovechkin grew to become the main objective scorer in Nationwide Hockey League (NHL) historical past when he broke a tie atop the leaderboard with Wayne Gretzky by scoring his 895th profession objective within the second interval of the Washington Capitals 4-1 loss to the hosts, the New York Islanders.
“They are saying data are made to be damaged,” Gretzky mentioned throughout an on-ice ceremony on Sunday. “However I’m unsure who’s going to get extra objectives than that.”
Marc Gatcomb collected the primary two-goal sport of his profession whereas Bo Horvat and Jean-Gabriel Pageau additionally scored for the Islanders, who gained their second straight sport.
Goalie Ilya Sorokin stopped 28 of 29 pictures – each however Ovechkin’s – for New York, who sit 5 factors behind the Montreal Canadiens within the race for the ultimate wild-card spot within the Japanese Convention.
Charlie Lindgren recorded 18 saves for the Japanese Convention-leading Capitals, who’ve misplaced 5 of seven.
However the story on Sunday was Ovechkin, who accomplished his pursuit of Gretzky in acceptable style by including to a different NHL document together with his 325th power-play objective.
The sellout crowd of 17,250 – that includes hundreds adorned in Capitals uniforms – buzzed as he hit the ice after the Islanders’ Casey Cizikas was whistled for tripping seven minutes into the second interval.
A tv timeout allowed the anticipation to construct earlier than Ovechkin, skating up alongside the left facet of the ice, took a move from longtime teammate Tom Wilson and fired a wrist shot from the face-off circle that sailed previous Sorokin’s blocker.
Ovechkin raised his arms, skated just a few steps and did a bellyflop on the ice as the gang roared. He collected the record-breaking objective in his 1,487th profession sport – the identical variety of NHL video games Gretzky performed.
“We’ve got all witnessed historical past,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman mentioned.
The Capitals, led by John Carlson, bolted for Ovechkin and mobbed him at centre-ice earlier than the celebration drifted backwards because the scoreboard displayed a graphic studying, “895 NHL ALL-TIME GOALS LEADER ALEX OVECHKIN.”
Celebration of a scoring milestone
A video montage of Ovechkin’s milestone objectives aired as a blue carpet was rolled onto the ice subsequent to a commemorative portray of “The Nice 8” elevating the Stanley Cup in 2018.
The scoreboard tribute ended with messages from his spouse, Anastasia, their two youngsters, and Ovechkin’s mom, Tatyana. His household joined him at centre-ice throughout the commemorative celebration.
The Isles remained on the ice and tapped their sticks earlier than Ovechkin exchanged handshakes with the skaters and hugged netminder Ilya Sorokin. He later hugged New York coach Patrick Roy, who as soon as held the NHL’s all-time wins document.
After Bettman and Gretzky spoke, Gretzky and his spouse, Janet, offered Ovechkin’s spouse with a present. Gordie Howe’s spouse offered Janet with a present when Gretzky surpassed Howe in 1994.
Ovechkin hugged and kissed his members of the family earlier than taking a microphone adorned with “895” on it.
“What a day, huh?” Ovechkin mentioned.
The milestone objective capped Overchkin’s spectacular dash to the document. He turned 39 in September and has 42 objectives this season, regardless of lacking nearly six weeks with a damaged leg. Ovechkin has 32 objectives in his final 45 video games, together with a minimum of one in every of the earlier 5.
Ovechkin’s historic objective ended Gretzky’s 31-year reign because the NHL’s main objective scorer and certain started his equally prolonged tenure atop the all-time checklist.
Sidney Crosby, who’s 37 years previous and entered the league with Ovechkin in 2005, ranks second behind Ovechkin amongst lively gamers, with 622 objectives coming into Sunday.
