Alex Ovechkin tied Wayne Gretzky’s NHL file by scoring the 893rd and 894th of his profession, the second being the sport winner, because the Washington Capitals rallied to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 on Friday evening.
Ovechkin scored his second objective on an influence play with 13:46 left within the third interval. And he did so with Gretzky in attendance for the primary time throughout this chase.
Gretzky ought to be there Sunday on the New York Islanders when Ovechkin has his subsequent probability to make hockey historical past.
Earlier within the evening, he bought his 893rd to maneuver one away from tying and two from breaking Gretzky’s mark that lengthy appeared unapproachable. The 39-year-old Russian celebrity is now one away from breaking it with six video games left to play this season.
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On his first of the evening, Ovechkin beat Spencer Knight 3:52 in, taking a cross from Dylan Strome behind the web and banking the puck off the far submit and the goaltender’s again and in.
After a couple of seconds, Ovechkin’s private objective tune, “Shake, Rattle & Roll” by Large Joe Turner began blaring from area audio system as mascot Slapshot flipped the counter in a single nook from 892 to 893. Followers chanted, “Ovi! Ovi!” earlier than and after play resumed.
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Scoring in a fourth consecutive recreation, Ovechkin reached 40 targets for a 14th time in 20 seasons, which is probably the most in league historical past. Along with his second, he’s at 41.
And whereas Ovechkin has tied Gretzky’s targets mark, nobody will probably contact Gretzky’s file of 1,963 assists and a couple of,857 complete factors. If Gretzky had by no means scored a single objective in his complete profession, he would nonetheless be the NHL all-time chief in factors since targets and assists each rely as one level in hockey.
