The NHL now has a 900-goal club.
Charter member: Alex Ovechkin, of course.
The Washington star pushed his record total to a new level Wednesday night, scoring against Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues to reach 900. The milestone came 2:39 into the second period of a 6-1 win.
“A couple days ago somebody ask me, `Do you think about [900]?’ Of course, it’s huge number, no one ever did it in NHL history and to be the first player to ever do it, it’s a special moment,” Ovechkin said. “It’s nice it’s over to get it in the homestand so the fans, my family can be here. It’s pretty cool.”
Ovechkin was lurking in the offensive zone and was at the bottom of the right circle when he backhanded Jakob Chychrun’s rebound past a sliding Binnington, who wasn’t able to recover in time. The bench cleared to celebrate the 40-year-old’s accomplishment, while Binnington tucked the milestone puck into his pants.
“I don’t know, maybe he was trying to grab it to give it to him,” Logan Thompson quipped.
After breaking Wayne Gretzky’s career record with his 895th goal in April, Ovechkin entered this season needing three more to reach 900. After four games without one, he ended that drought in the third period against Minnesota on Oct. 17.
A week later, he scored No. 899 against Columbus.
“None of us can relate to a ‘slump’ for him,” John Carlson said. “I think he’ll grab a lot of momentum from this.”
Ovechkin is in the final season of his contract, and it’s a long way from here to 1,000, so this could be the final round-number goal-scoring milestone for the star forward, who has won three MVPs and led the league in goals nine times.
“Even with the slow start here, if someone asks me if he’s going to score 30 this year, I’d say, `Yes, guaranteed,”‘ longtime teammate T.J. Oshie said last week. “He just finds a way to prove people wrong every time people think that he’s down and out. … There’s been plenty of time for me to come to terms with not putting limits on the big man.”
Ovechkin has been remarkably consistent through his career, rarely missing significant time because of injury. As a result, his milestones have been pretty evenly spaced, although it did take a little longer to go from 800 to 900.
“I don’t think I have lots of weight on my shoulders, I just try to play game, try to do as best as I can … 13 games, 14 games, you have plenty of games left, of course you’re going to score one goal,” Ovechkin said, adding, “It’s nice to get it.”
