A record that has passed the Test of Time in the National Hockey League is matched in a time when fans of the sport will be remembered forever.
Alex Ovechkin, the 39 -year -old captain of Washington Capitals, scored the 894th goal of his career – and his second of the night – against the Chicago Blackhawks to send Capital One Arena with approval while the history was seen.
With this goal he has officially bound Wayne Gretzky to most of a single player in the history of the competition.
Ovechkin was in a place where he made his home – the left circle – when he received a one -off pass from the old teammate John Carlson and hit the stick of Blackhawks – goalkeeper Spencer Knight.
As the crowd rose – including Gretzky and his wife next to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman – the game was paused for a standing ovation. Ovechkin skated to the ice, completed a round of thanks and the game went on.
After winning three heart trophies, an artross trophy, nine rocket Richard trophies, 12 all-star performances and his name engraved on the Stanley Cup, Ovechkin added by perhaps taking the most important record in the NHL history for his own.
Washington Capitals star Alex Oveechkin has matched the NHL goals scores record
The NHL career of Oveechkin came from a bit of a false start. He was the number 1 general choice in the NHL entry in 2004 by the Capitals, only for his first season that was postponed a year due to a lockout.
When he arrived, he did that with style. In his debut at the caps, Oveechkin scored two goals against Pascal Leclaire in a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
He would earn his first NHL -Hattrick on January 13 in a match against the Anaheim Ducks – scoring goals no. 28, 29 and 30 in his career.
The next match, a road game against the Phoenix Coyotes coached by Wayne Gretzky, Oveechkin perhaps scored the biggest goal in the history of the NHL.
In a series where words the majesty of the action cannot be accurately depicting, Oveechkin raced ice, covered a defender of Coyotes and lost his edge – fell on the ice.
As he fell on his back, he managed to get the back of his stick leaf on the puck and pushed it to the open goal – mouth – where the right slid.
That season he won the calder trophy – given to the best rookie in the competition – while he defeated career -rival Sidney Crosby for the honor.
Ovechkin reached 100 goals on October 12, 2007 in a match against the New York Rangers. A little more than two years later, in February 2009, he would pass 200 goals against the Kings in Los Angeles.
Ovechkin only started his career a year after a Lockout until a year after he was prepared
But when he finally made his NHL debut in 2005, his career started a flying start
The last major threshold of Ovechkin came back in 2022, when he scored career goal no. 800
Two years later he had hit 300 in April 2011 against the New Jersey Devils. Doel No 400 arrived against the Carolina Hurricanes in December 2013.
It took a little more than two years later to hit 500 – in January 2016 against the senators of Ottawa.
He became the 20th player in the NHL history to cross the threshold of 600 goals on 12 March 2018 against the Winnipeg Jets. Only a few weeks before a worldwide pandemic stopped the sports world, Oveechkin scored the 700 career goal against the Devils on 22 February 2020.
Then Doel No. 800 came across the Chicago Blackhawks on December 13, 2022 – giving him a clear goal that he achieved today.
Of his now record number, only 72 have come in the play – offs – put him on top of the list of active players only 15th general and 50 behind Gretzky.
The career of Oveechkin runs the table of success in the National Hockey League.
He won the Rocket Richard Trophy – given to the Topdoelscorer in the competition in a season – nine times. Ovechkin also claimed the Art Ross Trophy – given to the player with the most points in a season – in 2008.
His colleagues called him MVP of the competition in three consecutive seasons – in which Oveechkin won what is now called the Ted Lindsay Award in 2008, 2009 and 2010. He was also named MVP of the league three times by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association.
After he had escaped him for years, Ovechkin finally lifted the Stanley Cup for the first time in 2018
It was the first title in Franchise History and Washington, DC's first Pro Sports title in 27 years
But decades avoided the ultimate prize in hockey – the Stanley Cup – him.
In his NHL career, Ovechkin made the play-offs in his NHL career first two, the 13-14 season and the 22-23 season.
Until the 2017-18 season, the capitals never even reached the Eastern Conference Finals with their greatest player of all time. During his career up to that point, Oveechkin reached six times the second round – once lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, twice to the New York Rangers, and a painful three -time Pittsburgh Penguins.
But in that season of 17-18 he finally conquered his enemy by beating the pens in the second round in six games.
Ovechkin then won the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time and defeated the lightning in seven games to reach the highlight of the sport: the Stanley Cup Finals.
Against the Vegas Golden Knights, then in their first season, the Capitals made easy work of the debutants – winning the decisive match with 4-3 to win the very first Stanley Cup of the franchise and a gap for Washington, DC's 'Big Four' Pro Sports teams that lasted 27 years.
Ovechkin received the Conn-Mythe trophy as the most valuable player for the play-offs of that season.
In the seasons since then, the capitals have made six Playoff performances and they all lost in the first round.
