Alex Ovechkin Scores 700th Career Goal

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin reached a career milestone in the Capitals’ February 22nd game at New Jersey when he scored the 700th goal of his career. Ovechkin scored at the 4:50 mark of the third period, tying the game at 2-2.

Ovechkin is the eighth player in NHL history to score 700 goals. Wayne Gretzky is the all time leader with 894. So can the 34 year old, who is in his 15th NHL season, catch Gretzky? In his first 14 seasons, Ovechkin has averaged 47 goals per season; he has 42 so far this year, though 60 games, so if he gets five more in the Capitals’ final 22 games, he’ll reach that average, and make it 705 for his career. If he averages a fraction over 47 for four more seasons, he’ll reach Gretzky. So while a lot of variables can occur, it’s possible if he can play into his late 30s at his current level,which will get harder to maintain as he gets older of course. But it’s possible.

Despite the historic goal, the Devils went on to win 3-2. But then the Capitals turned right around and hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins on the 23rd. Pittsburgh and Washington were tied for 1st in the Metropolitan Division going into that Sunday afternoon contest. Ovechkin didn’t score, but Carl Hagelin had a pair of goals for Washington to lead the Capitals to a 5-3 win. That vaulted the Capitals into 1st place in the Metropolitan with 82 points.

In a busy weekend, the Capitals also acquired veteran forward Ilya Kovalchuk from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a third round draft choice. Kovalchuk is on his third team of the season. He began the season with the Los Angeles Kings and scored three goals with six assists in 17 games before being released in December. He was signed as a free agent by Montreal on January 3rd, and had six goals and seven assists in 22 games. The 36 year old Russian began his NHL career in the 2001-2 season, but spent five years in the mid 2010s playing in his home country before returning the NHL in the 2018-19 season. He has 328 goals and 287 assists in 594 NHL regular season games.