📸: Katie Adler/RMNB
The Washington Capitals accomplished a goal-scoring feat on Wednesday that had never happened before in the NHL’s 107-year history.
In the Capitals’ 7-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks, Alex Ovechkin and Ryan Leonard both scored twice. According to OptaSTATS on X and confirmed by NHL Stats, Ovechkin and Leonard became the first 40-or-older and 20-or-younger pair to have multi-goal games in the same game for the same team.
“Yeah, that was a cool stat,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said to the Sports Junkies on Friday. “I saw the same thing of first time ever in the history of the NHL that a 40-year-old on your team has scored two and a 20-year-old, right? Yeah, that’s unbelievable.”
Ovechkin was 40 years and 77 days old on Wednesday, while Leonard was 20 years and 316 days old.
Ovechkin and Leonard’s stats vs. San Jose Sharks (12/3)
Player
Age
Goals
Assists
Points
Alex Ovechkin
40yr 77d
2
0
2
Ryan Leonard
20yr 316d
2
2
4
Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time goals leader, scored the 910th and 911th goals of his NHL career in the victory while Leonard dented the twine for the seventh and eighth times. He became the first rookie in the NHL this season to record four points in a single game.
Appropriately enough, Leonard and Ovechkin were also named the first and second stars of the game.
According to NHL Stats, the closest instance prior happened nearly 20 years ago. On December 13, 2005, the Florida Panthers got two goals from Nathan Horton (then 20 years, 198 days) and two from Gary Roberts (then 39 years, 204 days) in a 7-3 win over the Predators.