“It’s amazing what he’s doing,” Sidney Crosby praises Alex Ovechkin as rival inches closer to Wayne Gretzky’s goal scoring record

Sidney Crosby lauded his career rival Alex Ovechkin as he netted his 886th league goal and came closer to Wayne Gretzky's record.

“It’s amazing what he’s doing,” Sidney Crosby praises Alex Ovechkin as rival inches closer to Wayne Gretzky’s goal scoring record

Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky (Image via Imago)

On Sunday night, Alex Ovechkin scored his 886th NHL goal and brought the number to make a new goal scoring history down to single digits. Following his performance, his career rival Sidney Crosby praised him as he got even closer to the goals record of Wayne Gretzky.

The Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Pirates were both in action on Sunday. While Crosby and his teammates took on the Minnesota Wild, Ovechkin and co. faced off against the Seattle Kraken in a heated game.

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As Crosby twice on Sunday, Ovechkin slammed home another empty-netter to clinch a 4-2 win for his side. After the game, Crosby was asked in an interview on what he thought about Ovechkin’s goal scoring record.

The Penguins captain then proceeded to salute his rival and lauded him for his performances. He also claimed that it will be amazing to see him break that record.

It’s amazing what he’s doing at his age… just nonetheless, just to score that much no matter how old you are, but especially at his age. The excitement around it, throughout the league, for fans, everyone’s got a close eye on it. It’ll be amazing when it happens.

Sidney Crosby said on NHL on TNT

Crosby and Ovechkin both entered the league in 2005. Since then, the two of them have captured the hearts of the audiences with their performances throughout the years.

While Crosby has achieved more success with his team, Ovechkin has enjoyed more personal glory. The two future Hall of Famers have combined to score 1,499 goals in the league.

Alex Ovechkin joins exclusive club following latest career league goal

Anything Alex Ovechkin does this days tends to become an NHL record. In January he set a unique goal scoring record following his overtime winner against the Ottawa Senators. He has now joined an exclusive club with his latest goal in the league.

Alex Ovechkin
Alex Ovechkin (Image via Imago)

His goal against the Kraken was his 886th one. He now remains 8 goals behind Wayne Gretzky‘s record of 894. His latest strike against the Kraken saw him script another piece of NHL history.

The goal turned out to be the 1,600th career point of Ovechkin. Apart from 886 goals, “The Great Eight” also has 714 assists. This takes his career points tally to 1,600 from 1,474 games.

He is now the 11th member of the 1,600 points or more club. The last player to enter this club was his career rival Sidney Crosby. The Penguins forward is 64 points ahead of him with 613 goals and 1,051 assists.

Wayne Gretzky is obviously on top of this list. “The Great One” has 2,857 points in his career. While Ovechkin may break his goal scoring record, he is nowhere close to this points record of Gretzky. In fact this is one record that could stay for a long time, as the second closest in this list Jaromir Jagr, has 1,921 points, 936 points behind.