ELMONT, N.Y. — Alexander Ovechkin became the leading goal scorer in NHL history on Sunday afternoon when he broke a tie atop the leaderboard with Wayne Gretzky by scoring his 895th career goal in the second period of the Washington Capitals’ 4-1 loss to the host New York Islanders.
“They say records are made to be broken,” Gretzky said during an on-ice ceremony. “But I’m not sure who’s going to get more goals than that.”
Marc Gatcomb collected the first two-goal game of his career while Bo Horvat and Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored for the Islanders (34-32-10, 78 points), who won their second straight game.
Goalie Ilya Sorokin stopped 28 of 29 shots — every one but Ovechkin’s — for New York, which sits five points behind the Montreal Canadiens in the race for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Charlie Lindgren recorded 18 saves for the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals (49-19-9, 107 points), who have lost five of seven (2-4-1).
But the story on Sunday was Ovechkin, who completed his pursuit of Gretzky in appropriate fashion by adding to another NHL record with his 325th power-play goal.
The sellout crowd of 17,250 — featuring thousands adorned in Capitals uniforms — buzzed as he hit the ice after the Islanders’ Casey Cizikas was whistled for tripping seven minutes into the second period. A television timeout allowed the anticipation to build before Ovechkin, skating up along the left side of the ice, took a pass from longtime teammate Tom Wilson and fired a wrist shot from the faceoff circle that sailed past Sorokin’s blocker.
Ovechkin raised his arms, skated a few steps and did a bellyflop on the ice as the crowd roared. He collected the record-breaking goal in his 1,487th career game — the same number of NHL games Gretzky played.
“We have all witnessed history,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said.
The Capitals, led by John Carlson, bolted for Ovechkin and mobbed him at center ice before the celebration drifted backwards as the scoreboard displayed a graphic reading “895 NHL ALL-TIME GOALS LEADER ALEX OVECHKIN.”
A montage of Ovechkin’s milestone goals aired as a blue carpet was rolled onto the ice next to a commemorative painting of “The Great 8” raising the Stanley Cup in 2018. The scoreboard tribute ended with messages from his wife, Anastasia, their two children, and Ovechkin’s mother, Tatyana. His family joined him at center ice during the commemorative celebration.
The Isles remained on the ice and tapped their sticks before Ovechkin exchanged handshakes with the skaters and hugged netminder Ilya Sorokin. He later hugged New York coach Patrick Roy, who once held the NHL’s all-time wins record.
After Bettman and Gretzky spoke, Gretzky and his wife, Janet, presented Ovechkin’s wife with a gift. Gordie Howe’s wife presented Janet with a gift when Gretzky surpassed Howe in 1994.
Ovechkin hugged and kissed the members of his family before taking a microphone adorned with “895” on it.
“What a day, huh?” Ovechkin said.
The milestone goal capped an impressive sprint to the record by Ovechkin. He turned 39 in September and has 42 goals this season despite missing almost six weeks with a broken leg. Ovechkin has 32 goals in his last 45 games, including at least one in each of the previous five.
Ovechkin’s historic goal ended Gretzky’s 31-year reign as the NHL’s leading goal scorer and likely began his similarly lengthy tenure atop the all-time list. Sidney Crosby, who is 37 years old and entered the league with Ovechkin in 2005, ranks second behind Ovechkin among active players with 622 goals entering Sunday.
–Jerry Beach, Field Level Media
