{"id":363,"date":"2025-04-26T03:30:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T03:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/363\/"},"modified":"2025-04-26T03:30:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T03:30:16","slug":"alex-ovechkin-breaks-wayne-gretzkys-nhl-career-goals-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/363\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Ovechkin breaks Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Alex Ovechkin<\/a> fired just about the perfect shot from the place on the ice that has defined his remarkable career. When the puck hit the net, it made him the top goal scorer in NHL history.<\/p>\n

Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky\u2019s record by scoring his 895th career goal in the Washington Capitals\u2019 game Sunday against the New York Islanders, beating fellow Russian Ilya Sorokin on a power play with 12:34 left in the second period. He took a cross-ice pass from longtime teammate Tom Wilson and fired a laser past Sorokin with defenseman Jakob Chychrun screening.<\/p>\n

Capitals coach Spencer Carbery called it \u201cthe ultimate goal-scorer\u2019s goal for the greatest of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the excitement of a child, the 39-year-old belly flopped onto the ice as tens of thousands of fans around him cheered and chanted, \u201cOvi! Ovi!\u201d while teammates streamed off the bench, mobbing him in celebration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m probably gonna need a couple more days or maybe a couple weeks to realize what does it mean to be No. 1,\u201d Ovechkin said after a 4-1 loss<\/a> that was still a party for the Capitals. \u201cI\u2019m really proud for myself. I\u2019m really proud for my family, for all my teammates that help me to reach that milestone and for all my coaches. It\u2019s huge. It\u2019s unbelievable. It\u2019s unbelievable moment, and I\u2019m happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ovechkin had never scored on Sorokin before, making his countryman the 183rd different goaltender he has beaten. \u201cThank you to Sorokin to let me score 895,\u201d Ovechkin said. \u201cI love you, brother.\u201d Ovechkin asked him for the stick, and Sorokin obliged<\/a> after writing \u201c895!\u201d and signing it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Alex Ovechkin breaks Wayne Gretzky\u2019s NHL career goals record by scoring his 895th\n <\/p>\n

Alex Ovechkin stands alone as the greatest goal scorer in hockey history. Correspodnent Gethin Coolbaugh reports.<\/p>\n

That any player got to 895 goals, breaking a record that stood for 31 years, seemed unreal to those in the middle of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s truly incredible,\u201d said center Dylan Strome, who got the secondary assist for passing the puck to Wilson. \u201cSometimes those moments happen where you\u2019ve kind of got to pinch yourself to believe that you\u2019re really in this moment and really on the ice celebrating or a part of it, and it was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ovechkin broke a record that appeared to be one of the most untouchable<\/a> in sports. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman made sure to point that out when he opened the 10-minute ceremony to celebrate the milestone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWayne, you\u2019ll always be the \u2018Great One\u2019 and you had a record that nobody ever thought would be broken,\u201d Bettman said. \u201cBut Alex, you did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first to get hugs from Ovechkin were longtime equipment managers Craig \u201cWoody\u201d Leydig and Brock Myles, along with the rest of the training and locker room staff who have been around him so long. Ovechkin waved to acknowledge the crowd and went through a handshake line with the Islanders as crew members set up for the 895 ceremony that has been months in the making.<\/p>\n

Ovechkin got a portrait of himself and Gretzky. Janet Gretzky presented a gift to Ovechkin\u2019s wife, Nastya, just as Colleen Howe did to her when her husband broke Gordie\u2019s record back in 1994. Ovechkin got No. 895 in his 1,487th game \u2014 the same number Gretzky finished with.<\/p>\n

Gretzky shook Ovechkin\u2019s hand, embraced him and congratulated the \u201cGreat 8\u201d and his family for the accomplishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say records are made to be broken, but I\u2019m not sure who\u2019s going to get more goals than that,\u201d Gretzky said.<\/p>\n

Ovechkin took the microphone from Gretzky like a torch being passed from one legend of the game to another. He thanked injured teammates Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2018, and expressed his affection for his wife, mother and two sons standing nearby.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did it, boys. We did it,\u201d Ovechkin said. \u201cAnd the most important thing, to my mom, my family, my beautiful wife, my father-in-law, my beautiful kids, thank you. I love you so much, and without you, without your support I would never stand here.\u201d<\/p>\n

More \u201cOvi!\u201d chants followed. Plenty more will be coming as he attempts to reach 900.<\/p>\n

Gretzky\u2019s total<\/a> of 894 goals had long seemed unapproachable. Ovechkin passed it even after missing 16 games in November and December because of a broken left leg<\/a>, a testament to his durability and a knack for putting the puck in the net consistently for two decades. He surpassed 40 goals this season for a 14th time \u2014 two more than Gretzky and also the most in league history \u2014 and now has 42.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo do what he\u2019s doing at this age is incredible,\u201d said longtime teammate John Carlson, who assisted on tying goal No. 894. \u201cI think people are sleeping on that, too. Just, like, he missed two months and he might score 50 goals. Like that\u2019s nuts. It\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chase by the Great 8, a nickname honoring his jersey number, captured attention from North America to Ovechkin\u2019s native Russia,<\/a> where billboards and goal counters cheered on and tracked his effort. It helped Ovechkin that his team is one of the best in the NHL this season, defying expectations.<\/p>\n

Gretzky broke Howe\u2019s record a little more than 31 years ago, since he scored 802 on March 23, 1994. He added 92 more before retiring in 1999 after a total of 1,487 games over 20 seasons.<\/p>\n

Even with this one falling to Ovechkin, Gretzky holds 54 NHL records, and two seem truly untouchable: 2,857 total points and 1,963 assists, the latter of which is more than anyone else has in goals and assists combined.<\/p>\n

For NHL playoff goals, which do not count toward the record, Gretzky has the most (122). Ovechkin has 72. Gretzky also had another 56 in the World Hockey Association regular season and playoffs, while Ovechkin has 57 from his time in the KHL, Russia\u2019s top league.<\/p>\n

Returning to Russia to play in front of family and friends is an option at some point for Ovechkin, who has one season left after this one on the five-year, $47.5 million contract<\/a> he signed in 2021, which took him through age 40 to give him enough time to chase Gretzky\u2019s record. Instead, he got it done earlier than just about anyone could have realistically expected.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NHL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nhl<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Alex Ovechkin fired just about the perfect shot from the place on the ice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[278,296,288,282,295,286,5,277,284,297,281,287,285,290,159,4,292,293,291,298,283,43,299,280,294,289,109,279],"class_list":{"0":"post-363","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-alexander-ovechkin","9":"tag-colleen-howe","10":"tag-dc-wire","11":"tag-dylan-strome","12":"tag-gary-bettman","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-hockey","15":"tag-ilya-sorokin","16":"tag-jakob-chychrun","17":"tag-janet-gretzky","18":"tag-john-carlson","19":"tag-md-state-wire","20":"tag-national-hockey-league","21":"tag-new-york-city-wire","22":"tag-new-york-islanders","23":"tag-nhl","24":"tag-nhl-hockey","25":"tag-nicklas-backstrom","26":"tag-ny-state-wire","27":"tag-russia","28":"tag-spencer-carbery","29":"tag-sports","30":"tag-t-j-oshie","31":"tag-tom-wilson","32":"tag-u-s-news","33":"tag-va-state-wire","34":"tag-washington-capitals","35":"tag-wayne-gretzky"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}