MOSCOW: Russian superstar forward and Washington Capitals’ captain Alexander Ovechkin scored another goal on Wednesday night in an away w...
MOSCOW: Russian superstar forward and Washington Capitals’ captain Alexander Ovechkin scored another goal on Wednesday night in an away win against the New York Rangers, putting him just nine goals shy of Wayne Gretzky's all-time record.
Ovechkin now has 32 goals in 46 games this season. His total has him in the top-10 in the NHL even though he missed 16 games with a broken leg earlier in the season. He is now second in NHL history with 885 goals, trailing only the Great One himself Wayne Gretzky of Canada, who had 894 goals in his NHL career.
Canadian-American ice hockey star Wayne Gretzky played for four different NHL teams between 1979 and 1999, scoring more goals than anyone in history during his 20-year career. Gretzky, now 64, is considered by many to be the greatest player in NHL history.
Washington Capitals Head Coach Spencer Carbery was quoted by the official NHL website as saying after the match about Ovechkin’s race to the all-time NHL scoring record: "Ten more. We got this."
Ovechkin tied the game against New York Rangers last night at 2-2 with a power-play goal late into the closing period. His teammate Tom Wilson secured the 3-2 win for the Capitals in the overtime.
"I think our bench, everyone kind of jumps through the roof whenever he finds the back of the net, which is fitting because he's always the most excited guy on the ice when anybody else scores," the NHL’s website quoted Wilson, the Capitals’ right-winger and club’s alternate captain, as saying.
"Whenever he [Ovechkin] scores, obviously everybody in the hockey world is pretty excited right now. Happy for him and proud how he's carrying himself and doing such a great job," Wilson added.
The 39-year-old Ovechkin is under contract with the Washington Capitals through 2026 and his club is scheduled to play 20 more matches until this year’s NHL regular season closes.
Washington Capitals is set to play its next match on March 7 facing at home Detroit Red Wings.
Ovechkin signed with the NHL’s Washington’s Capitals in 2004. The Russian superstar led the Caps to a Stanley Cup title in 2018, the only one of his career.
In 2008, 2012 and 2014, "Ovie," as he is called by his fans, won gold medals at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships to go along with his two silver and four bronze medals at the world championships.
During a rally of the newly-elected US president’s supporters at the Capital One Arena in Washington on January 20, US President Donald Trump called Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin "a great player."
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