Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin. Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Capitals' Alex Ovechkin set an NHL record in win over Senators

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 12/23/22

As Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin continues to chase down the NHL's all-time goals record, he is setting a handful of smaller records along the way.

He set another one on Thursday night in the Capitals' 3-2 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators when he recorded six shots on goal, giving him 6,211 shots on goal for his career. That put him ahead of Hall of Fame defenseman Raymond Bourque, who finished his career with 6,209 shots on goal to set the NHL record.

The most shots in NHL history title belongs to Alex Ovechkin!#ALLCAPS | @LeidosInc pic.twitter.com/qja9oC5RY8
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 23, 2022

What is most impressive about that mark for Ovechkin is that it took Bourque 1,612 games to reach his number.

Ovechkin did it in only 1,309 games.

That is 303 fewer games, which is the equivalent of three-and-a-half fewer 82-game seasons.

It is a staggering number of shots, especially when you consider that Ovechkin and Bourque are the only two players in NHL history that have topped even 5,700 shots on goal for their careers.

Only nine players have topped the 5,000 shot mark.

Ovechkin has also led the league in shots on goal 11 different times.

He is currently sitting on 800 goals for his career, only the third player to ever do so, and is one goal away from matching Gordie Howe for second on the all-time list. Wayne Gretzky's career mark of 894 is also well within striking distance for Ovechkin.

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