
Washington Capitals icon Alexander Ovechkin is already regarded as the NHL's goal-scoring king, but he's actually on the verge of adding to his standing even more.
On Saturday, Ovechkin scored both of the Capitals' two goals in their 6-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. And while his scoring touch wasn't nearly enough against Montreal, it inched him closer to more history.
Ovechkin's two most recent goals now give him 24 on the season and 921 for his career, extending the NHL record he broke on April 6th of last year when he passed Wayne Gretzky's previous mark of 894.
But in actuality, the record Ovechkin holds is just for regular-season goals, not what each player tallied throughout their entire careers. However, it's only a matter of time until Ovechkin holds sole possession of that overall top spot.
As far as the regular season and playoffs combined, Ovechkin is now two goals shy of joining Gretzky as only the second player to ever reach 1,000 total goals. And then once he hits 1,000, Ovechkin will be hot on Gretzky's tail for the full record.
Ovechkin is now two goals shy of becoming the second player in NHL history to score 1,000 career goals (regular season & playoffs combined). https://t.co/evArPbrjP3
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) March 1, 2026
Gretzky scored his 894 regular-season goals in 1,487 games and then his 122 playoff goals, the most ever in the Stanley Cup playoffs, in 208 postseason contests.
Conversely, Ovechkin has his 921 regular-season goals in 1,553 games and counting. He then has 77 playoff goals in 161 postseason games.
Twice is nice pic.twitter.com/uuS8Vq4kUl
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 1, 2026
Of course, in terms of total points, Gretzky may remain the king forever. He has 2,857 thanks to his record 1,963 career assists.
Gretzky is the only player to ever get to 2,000 points and holds a nearly 1,000-point lead over the next closest, Jaromír Jágr, with 1,921 points. To put Gretzky's points in further perspective, Ovechkin has 1,673.
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