NHL history was made last night as Alexander Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals’ captain who was drafted by the Capitals back in 2004, tied Wayne Gretzky for the NHL goal-scoring record!
It took Wayne Gretzky 1,487 games to amass the 894-goal record that Ovechkin now shares, who scores the same number of goals in 1,486 games!
When did Ovechkin tie Gretzky’s goal record?
Last night, on April 4th, the Washington Capitals played against the Chicago Blackhawks and closed the game with a resounding victory of 5-3!
In this game, Ovechkin scored the two goals needed in his ‘Gr8 Chase‘ to tie Wayne Gretzky’s record number of goals: 894.
His first goal came just four minutes into the first period, which was the first goal in what quickly became an instant-classic high-scoring game!
Ovechkin’s record-tying second goal came later in the third period, giving the Capitals a 4-3 lead over the Blackhawks as the game was down to its final 13 minutes.
You can watch the game’s full highlights here:
How did Ovechkin pass up the opportunity to break the record?
When the game was down to its final minutes, the Chicago Blackhawks opted to do a last-ditch effort play to tie the game known in hockey as “pulling the goalie”, which means that they have their goalie come off the ice and replace them with a 6th skater.
While this strategy can give teams an advantage on offense, it’s a high-risk, high-reward strategy often only seen at the end of very close games since they leave their goal unattended.
In this case, a goal by Ovechkin against a team with no goalie on the ice would be considered an “empty net” goal, something that definitely would still count as far as records go.
However, Ovechkin was noticeably absent in the final moments of the game, with reports saying that he didn’t want to break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal record on an empty net ‘out of respect’ for the record and the game.
When are the Capitals and Ovechkin playing next?
Just one goal away from claiming the goal-scoring record for himself, Ovechkin and the Capitals are set to take on the New York Islanders in Long Island this Sunday at 12:30 pm.
If you are one of the many die-hard Caps fans interested in making the trek to see the game live, tickets are currently going for a pretty penny – currently, the cheapest tickets are listed for around $850!
If Ovechkin doesn’t break the record in this game, the Capitals head back to the District and take on the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night at Capital One Arena.