The Nice Eight is now the best goal-scorer.
Alex Ovechkin accomplished his chase of Wayne Gretzky on Sunday at UBS Area, scoring his 895th profession purpose to face atop hockey’s all-time listing, blasting the puck in from the highest of his workplace, the left circle, for a power-play purpose at 7:26 of the second interval after Pierre Engvall went off for tripping.
Proper after the puck hit nylon, Ovechkin went right into a swan dive towards heart ice, the Capitals and Islanders alike spilled off the benches and a crowd largely made up of Caps followers exploded in adulation.
The sport between the Capitals and Islanders was stopped for a ceremony, with the Capitals getting commemorative hats and Ovechkin saluting the group. Up in a set, Gretzky stood and applauded earlier than making his solution to the ice together with Ovechkin’s household, Capitals proprietor Ted Leonsis and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
“What a day, huh?” Ovechkin stated to the UBS crowd.
A video salute to Ovechkin performed on the Islanders’ video board, together with messages from his spouse, two youngsters and mom.
“895’s pretty special,” Gretzky stated in the course of the ceremony. “… They say records are made to be broken, but I’m not sure who’s gonna score more goals than that.”
“Wayne you’ll always be the Great One and you had a record that nobody thought would be broken,” commissioner Gary Bettman stated in the course of the ceremony. “But Alex, you did it. You were amazing.”
A lot of Ovechkin’s speech was drowned out by the group, and the video that performed afterward included congratulations from luminaries together with Derek Jeter, Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, Jayden Daniels, Doc Emrick, Buster Posey, Martin Brodeur, Ryan Zimmermann, Katie Ledecky, LeBron James, Michael Phelps, Steve Carrell and Snoop Dogg, amongst others.
It was Ovechkin’s forty fifth profession purpose in opposition to the Islanders in 72 video games, making them luckier than the Winnipeg Jets and Carolina Hurricanes, in opposition to whom No. 8 has scored 57 and 52 occasions, respectively, however unluckier than most. Amongst these contains purpose No. 691, to move Mario Lemiux for tenth on the all-time listing; purpose No. 718, to move Phil Esposito for sixth; and purpose No. 767, to move Jaromir Jagr for third.
After No. 767, on March 15, 2022, then-Islanders coach and former Capitals coach Barry Trotz would say of Ovechkin that, “The one thing I’ve learned about Ovi over my time is that when you doubt Ovi or you say he can’t do it, he digs in.”
Earlier than Sunday’s recreation, Patrick Roy, the present Islanders coach, stated his staff would “raise our hat” to Ovechkin ought to he break the file on them. Certainly they did
Ilya Sorokin, one in all few goalies fortunate sufficient to have confronted Ovechkin with out permitting a purpose, ended up on the improper aspect of the spotlight. He and Ovechkin are pals, relationship again to time spent collectively on the Russian nationwide staff.
“To Ilya Sorokin, sorry,” Ovechkin stated throughout his speech.
After Ovechkin scored twice in Washington to tie the file on Friday, ticket costs shot by the roof at UBS, with the get-in worth spanning from $700 into the hundreds. The group, clad largely in purple regardless of the trek from D.C. to Lengthy Island, hummed every time Ovechkin touched the puck, hoping their funding would repay with historical past.
With the league throwing its sources into celebrating Ovechkin, it appears clear that the celebrity’s recognition has not been dented by his assist of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Ovechkin endorsed and campaigned for Putin in a sham 2018 election and his Instagram profile image is of himself with the dictator, and in 2014 he posted on social media in assist of Russia’s invasion of Crimea.
Requested in 2022 whether or not he supported the nation’s invasion of mainland Ukraine, Ovechkin demurred.
“I’m Russian, right? It’s not something I can control,” he stated. “It’s not in my hands. I hope it’s going to end soon and there’s going to be peace in both countries. I don’t control this one.”
However, this was a Capitals dwelling recreation on Lengthy Island and a loud celebration of Ovechkin.
And everybody received what they got here to see.
