Alex Ovechkin breaks UNIQUE NHL record following OT winner against Senators
Alex Ovechkin broke an NHL record as he scored his 21st goal of the season, an overtime winner against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday.
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Alex Ovechkin 9Image via Imago)
Alex Ovechkin is aging like a fine wine. The 39-year-old veteran is currently on the chase of Wayne Gretzky‘s goal-scoring record. On Thursday, the Washington Capitals captain broke a unique NHL record with an overtime winner against the Ottawa Senators.
The game between the Capitals and the Senators into overtime after both teams failed to score in the third periods. In this period, “The Great Eight” slammed home his 21st goal of the 2024-25 campaign and set a new record.
After taking a pass from Rasmus Sandin, Ovechkin would shoot a puck during a 2-on-1 situation. He would beat goaltender beat Leevi Merilainen with a snap shot from the top left corner of the circle.
Merilainen is now the 179th different goaltender amongst whom Ovechkin has scored upon. He thus surpassed Pittsburgh Penguins’ legend Jaromir Jagr in this category. Jagr had scored against 178 different goaltenders during this time in the NHL.
Alex Ovechkin has surpassed Jaromir Jagr for the most goaltenders scored on in NHL history, now totaling 179 after scoring his first career goal against Leevi Merilainen tonight. pic.twitter.com/e5rZwPGfyX
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) January 17, 2025
Veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is the one against whom he has scored the most (28). Recently, the duo went head-to-head once again. That time, Fleury got the last laugh as he denied Ovechkin’s penalty shoot in the shootout and earned a victory for the Minnesota Wild.
Coach Spencer Carbery lauds Alex Ovechkin’s “remarkable” career
As Alex Ovechkin continues to chase history, he keeps on breaking records left and right. After the game, his head coach Spencer Carbery spoke on the 179 goaltenders scored against record of Ovechkin and hailed him while lauding his “remarkable” career.
The Capitals head coach also claimed that there would be a 10-page essay on the different accolades the Russian forward has broken in his 20-year stay in the NHL.
Just the accolades and, like, the different parts of this record are going to just be about a 10-page essay. You just continue to check boxes on his remarkable career, scoring on different guys and in different buildings and against every team. It’s remarkable what he’s doing.
Spencer Carbery said as per NHL.com
Alex Ovechkin has now scored against 179 different goalies in his career 😳
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 17, 2025
The most goalies scored against in NHL history 👏 pic.twitter.com/KYBdQGk3xE
Ovechkin joined the NHL in 2004 as the number one draft pick. In his rookie year, he scored 52 goals and had 54 assists. This earned him the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie. Since then, the forward has continued to impress the fans with similar performances.
His OT winner against the Senators was the 874th goal. He now trails Wayne Gretzky‘s record by 20 and needs 21 more goals to etch his name in NHL history. With this win, the Capitals are now 30-10-5 for the season and sit on top of the Metropolitan Division.
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Vinay Dave
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