ELMONT, NY – (Staff and Wire Service Report) -Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals has finally caught up to Wayne Gretzky, tying him for the most goals scored in an NHL career.
While they each have 894 goals, the eras in which they played were far from equal.
Ovechkin tied Gretzky’s 31-year-old record by scoring twice in a 5-3 win against the visiting Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.
The 39-year-old Russian scored 3:52 into the game on a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle off a feed from behind the net, and tied the record at 6:13 of the third with his patented one-timer from the left circle while on a power play.
Gretzky will be back in attendance on Sunday afternoon when Ovechkin goes for No. 895 against the New York Islanders on Long Island.
“It’s really been a wonderful journey for everyone,” said Gretzky, who went on to play five more seasons after breaking Howe’s record. “It’s great for hockey. I’m so happy for the league. I’m so proud of Alex. … Great for the people in Washington and hockey fans all over the world.”
The paths Ovechkin and Gretzky took to 894 were both long and varied.
Gretzky became the NHL’s all-time goals leader while also serving as the league’s premier playmaker. He totaled more than twice as many assists (1,963) as goals during his 20-year career.
Ovechkin, on the other hand, has been a prototypical goal scorer ever since notching a pair in his NHL debut on Oct. 5, 2005, less than a month after his 20th birthday.
He has 724 assists in his career, producing more assists than goals only five times in his 20 seasons, most recently in 2023-24, when he totaled 31 goals and 34 assists.
Ovechkin’s blistering one-timer has also made him one of the league’s biggest threats on the power play throughout his career.
Ovechkin has an NHL-record 324 power-play goals, more than a third of his goal total.
Gretzky amassed 204 power-play goals in his career, which is 18th on the NHL’s all-time list, but he holds the NHL record with 686 assists with the man-advantage.
Gretzky also didn’t have the benefit of playing 4-on-4 or 3-on-3 overtime during his career, thus he only tallied two overtime goals, compared to 27 for Ovechkin, which is another NHL record.
Overtime was added prior to Gretzky’s fifth season in the league in 1983-84 and remained 5-on-5 until it was changed to 4-on-4 in the 1999-2000 season, one season after Gretzky retired.
Ovechkin joined the NHL the first season the shootout was added after five minutes of overtime, which was later changed to 3-on-3 prior to the 2015-16 season.
Ovechkin had an opportunity to break Gretzky’s record when Chicago pulled its goalie in the waning minutes on Friday, but Ovechkin opted to stay on the bench.
“I said, ‘Let’s wait,’” Ovechkin said.
Ovechkin has taken advantage of previous opportunities to shoot into an unguarded net. Eight of his 41 goals this season have been scored into an unoccupied net, and he owns an NHL record 65 empty-netters for his career.
Gretzky took advantage of empty nets in his career as well, scoring 56, which is second most in NHL history.
There’s no doubt that today’s rules have also made it easier for speedy players to weave from zone to zone, something Gretzky was not always afforded.
One particular rule that was set aside just as Ovechkin’s career was starting in an effort to open up the ice for more scoring was the elimination of a stoppage for a two-line pass.
Previously, teams were not permitted to pass the puck over both their blue line and the red line, preventing long stretch passes.
One of Ovechkin’s favorite hangouts is along the wall at the opponent’s blue line, where he waits for stretch passes to spring him loose.
The goalies who tried to stop Gretzky and Ovechkin have also gone through a makeover.
Netminders today are bigger and more technically sound than during Gretzky’s era, and their equipment also fills up more of the cage.
Ovechkin will try to break Gretzky’s record against one of the best goalies in the NHL, five-time All Star Ilya Sorokin.
Gretzky will be ready to congratulate Ovechkin if he does.
“When I broke Gordie’s record my dad told me that same night, ‘Be as proud of the guy that breaks your record,’ ” Gretzky said. “When I was breaking Gordie Howe’s record, he was there. And I said two years ago that if Alex gets close to my record, I’ll be here.”
-Field Level Media