Alex Ovechkin’s teammates have become accustomed to him passing hockey legends and achieving new records regularly. The biggest milestone is still ahead.
All eyes are on Ovechkin as he gets closer to Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record of 894. He is just 42 goals away from breaking this long-standing mark, which could happen as soon as this spring.
The captain of the Washington Capitals will soon be at the top of another impressive list.
Since his debut in 2005, Ovechkin has scored against 175 different goaltenders. If he scores against four more, he will surpass Patrick Marleau and Jaromir Jagr for the most in league history.
Many of the goalies Ovechkin has faced over the years admire his talent and some are even cheering for him to reach 895 goals and beyond.
“It’s not going to be surprising,” said Pittsburgh’s Alex Nedjelkovic, who let in two goals from Ovechkin last season in his first two games against him. “I wouldn’t be shocked if he broke it this year.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he broke it by Christmas, to be honest with you, but that’s just the kind of goal scorer he is. I think it’s well within reach.”
Ovechkin has scored an average of 0.6 goals per game throughout his long career, a pace that could allow him to threaten the record by late March.
He scored 31 goals last season after a strong second half, so reaching the 40-goal mark would require him to return to his younger form.
He just turned 39 and has already surpassed other scorers his age in hockey history to reach 817 goals, so it would be unwise to dismiss the possibility of breaking the record this season, which is his 20th. He is also under contract for next season.
“I’m hoping he’s going to break the record, and I think he will maybe this year,” said Chicago’s Petr Mrazek, who has let in nine goals to Ovechkin. “That’s the way he shoots, that’s the way he scores, so it’s not easy to stop him and you have to be lucky, as well.”
Nearly ten years later, Petr Mrazek still remembers his third game against Alex Ovechkin as if it were yesterday. The Russian superstar, during his seventh of nine seasons with 50 or more goals, fired 15 shots on net, but Mrazek stopped them all, and Detroit won 1-0.
“He used to be my favorite shooter to stop,” Mrazek said. While he considers Ovechkin a favorite teammate and player to watch, he rarely enjoyed facing him as a shooter.
Still, goalies like Philadelphia’s Samuel Ersson relish the challenge of facing Ovechkin. He said he has liked the opportunity to stop pucks coming from him.
“His shot is lethal,” said Ersson, who allowed Ovechkin’s 817th and most recent goal. “He finds a lot of ways to put pucks through goaltenders, and it’s something you’ve always got to be aware of, where he is. It’s one of those things that you might even be focusing a little bit too much on him and something else happens.”
Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur found this challenging because, during Ovechkin’s prime, the Capitals also had other great players like Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green, and John Carlson.
Brodeur compared Ovechkin’s shot to other top Russian scorers, Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Mogilny, saying he had to be constantly alert like he was when facing Brett Hull.
“Everybody’s looking for him all the time,” said Brodeur, who allowed seven goals in 21 regular-season games against Ovechkin. “Even though you know he’s there, he still gets it done.”
Colorado’s Alexandar Georgiev is now one of the goalies most scored on by Ovechkin, with 10 goals against him, mainly from his time with the New York Rangers.
He is still behind all-time goalies like Marc-Andre Fleury (27), Henrik Lundqvist (24), Carey Price (22), and Sergei Bobrovsky (16) and said it is “incredible how he can just fly it.”
“Almost like he controls it with a remote,” Georgiev said. Brodeur initially didn’t think Ovechkin would come close to Gretzky’s record, attributing it not just to his shot and skill, but also to his health and longevity.
