Alex Ovechkin Breaks Wayne Gretzky's All-Time Goals Record
Alex Ovechkin salutes the crowd after scoring his record-breaking goal. (Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)There it is.
The moment the whole NHL season has been leading up to finally happened on Sunday afternoon, when Alex Ovechkin scored his 895th goal to break Edmonton Oilers legend Wayne Gretzky's all-time record.
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He did it in the most Ovechkin way possible, with an absolute laser from the top of the faceoff circle on the powerplay. Ovi has always been, above all else, a performer, and he sure put on a performance on Long Island on Saturday.
Gretzky himself was there to witness the record-breaking goal, having followed the Washington Capitals along with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman for the past few games as Ovechkin inched closer to the record.
"Some records are made to be broken, but I'm not sure who's going to get more goals than that," Gretzky said during a mid-game ceremony to celebrate the goal.
It's hard to disagree with the Great One. Over his 20-year career, Ovechkin has scored an average of 49 goals per 82 games, taking exactly as many games to hit 895 as Gretzky did to score 894.
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Of all his great accomplishments, this season may be Ovechkin's finest. When he broke his leg in November, it seemed to dash any hopes of catching Gretzky this season. At 40 years old, he was slowing down, having scored a career-low 31 goals last season.
But Ovi came back with a vengeance and somehow sits second in the NHL with 42 goals despite missing 16 games this season. He broke the hallowed record by scoring at a 56-goal pace, the third-highest pace of his long and remarkable career.
Ovechkin now stands alone, having broken a record many thought unbreakable. All that's left now is to see how high he can climb.
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