WASHINGTON (AP) — The NHL now has a 900-goal club.
Charter member: Alex Ovechkin, of course.
The Washington star pushed his record total to a new level on Wednesday night, scoring against the St. Louis Blues to reach 900. The milestone came 2:39 into the second period.
Ovechkin was lurking in the offensive zone and was at the bottom of the right circle when he backhanded Jakob Chychrun’s rebound past a sliding Jordan Binnington, who wasn’t able to recover in time. The bench cleared to celebrate the 40-year-old’s accomplishment.
After breaking Wayne Gretzky’s career record with his 895th goal in April, Ovechkin entered this season needing three more to reach 900. After four games without one, the 40-year-old Russian ended that drought in the third period against Minnesota .
A week later, he scored No. 899 .
“It’s insane to think about four, five, six years ago,” longtime teammate T.J. Oshie said last week. “Anyone that says, ‘Can Ovi do this?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, probably.’”
Ovechkin is in the final season of his contract, and it’s a long way from here to 1,000, so this could be the final round-number goal-scoring milestone for the star forward, who has won three MVPs and led the league in goals nine times.
“Even with the slow start here, if someone asks me if he’s going to score 30 this year, I’d say, ‘Yes, guaranteed,’” said Oshie, who retired in June. “He just finds a way to prove people wrong every time people think that he’s down and out. … There’s been plenty of time for me to come to terms with not putting limits on the big man.”
Ovechkin has been remarkably consistent through his career, rarely missing significant time because of injury. As a result, his milestones have been pretty evenly spaced, although it did take a little longer to go from 800 to 900.
Goal No. 100: Oct. 12, 2007 (game 167)
Goal No. 200: Feb. 5, 2009 (game 296)
Goal No. 300: April 5, 2011 (game 473)
Goal No. 400: Dec. 20, 2013 (game 634)
Goal No. 500: Jan. 10, 2016 (game 801)
Goal No. 600: March 12, 2018 (game 990)
Goal No. 700: Feb. 22, 2020 (game 1,144)
Goal No. 800: Dec. 13, 2022 (game 1,305)
Goal No. 900: Nov. 5, 2025 (game 1,504)
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