Alex Ovechkin finishes his ‘GR8 Chase’ season with 897 career goals, three more than Wayne Gretzky

Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals not only finished his chase of Wayne Gretzky’s career NHL goals record this season, he’s given himself some breathing room over the Great One.

The 39-year-old Russian star, who broke the goals record long held by Gretzky on April 6 when he scored the 895th of his career against the New York Islanders, ended the year with 897 after scoring in Washington’s regular season finale against Pittsburgh.

Ovechkin entered the season 42 short of breaking the regular-season record by the Great One that had long seemed unapproachable. Ovechkin began his 20th NHL season on a heater but it appeared that his bid for history might have to wait until the 2025-26 season when broke his left leg in a shin-on-shin collision in November. Ovechkin missed 16 games but resumed his pursuit at Toronto in the Capitals’ first game out of the Christmas break.

The missing time only seemed to make Ovechkin more determined. He scored 22 goals in the final 31 games to finish with 44 on the season, tying Hall of Famer Gordie Howe for the most in a season by a player aged 39 or older.

Alex Ovechkin’s most recent goal scored

Facing longtime rival and peer Sidney Crosby and in the regular season, Ovechkin finished in vintage Ovechkin fashion. Not long after Crosby gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead, Ovechkin swooped into his spot in the left circle and blasted a power-play goal past Alex Nedeljkovic, bringing the fans clad in red inside PPG Paints Arena to their feet.

What record

s does Ovechkin already have?

Ovechkin already owned the NHL records for power-play goals and shots on goal.

No. 894 also gave him 136 game-winning goals, breaking a tie for the most with Jaromir Jagr. After adding Sorokin, Ovechkin has scored on 183 goaltenders, breaking Jagr’s record by beating Leevi Merilainen of the Senators with No. 874. Ovechkin has 178 multi-goal games, second to Gretzky (189).

Ovechkin earlier this season became the 60th player to record 700 assists. He joined Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Jagr, Marcel Dionne and Phil Esposito as the only players with 700 goals and 700 assists.

Who are the NHL’s leading scorers?

Ovechkin, after climbing past Mike Gartner (708), Esposito (717), Dionne (731), Brett Hull (741) and Jagr (766), scored goal No. 802 on Dec. 23, 2022, to move into second behind Gretzky (894). He got his 895th in his 1,487th regular-season game, the same number Gretzky finished with.

Who previously held the career goals record?

Gretzky held the record since scoring his 802nd goal on March 23, 1994, to pass Howe. He added 92 more before retiring in 1999 after a total of 1,487 games over 20 seasons.

Gretzky now holds 54 NHL records. Two seem truly untouchable: 2,857 total points and 1,963 assists, which is more than anyone else has in goals and assists combined.

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 Russia-based KHL.

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