With both his parents in the crowd, Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin achieved something incredible on Sunday night, scoring the 500th goal of his National Hockey League career against the Ottawa Senators.
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The goal gave Washington a 5-1 lead over Ottawa late in the second period. Only Wayne Gretzky (575), Mario Lemieux (605), Mike Bossy (647) and Brett Hull (741) scored 500 goals in fewer than 800 games, while Phil Esposito scored his 500th in his 803rd game.
Alex Ovechkin scores 500th goal: Alex Ovechkin scored his 500th goal, becoming the 43rd player in National Hockey League history to reach the milestone.
Ovechkin already ranks first in the Capitals’ 42-year history in goals (500), points (933), power-play goals (185), game-winning goals (85) and overtime goals (16).
Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin is the newest member of hockey’s 500 club. “Our fans have supported him for so long and they’ve seen a lot of his goals and a lot of his celebrations”, Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “It was a moment that was a great for the team to share”.
Corey Crawford stopped 34 shots for the Blackhawks and Semyon Varlamov allowed four goals on 20 shots before he was replaced by Calvin Pickard, who stopped 13 of 15 shots in relief for the Avalanche. Last week, Ovechkin was named captain of the Metropolitan Division for the NHL All-Star Game.
Matt Duchene had two goals and an assist for Colorado, which had won three in a row and four of six. Ovechkin has matched those guys while playing in an era that isn’t optimal for goal scorers.
“I’m sure everyone is going to remember that moment”, he said.
Alex Ovechkin already scored his 500th, but he wasn’t done.
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Alex Ovechkin hit another big milestone on Sunday and set himself apart from every Russian NHL player that came before him. “Without my teammates’ help, without the system, how we play, it is very hard to do”. Forwards Mike Richards (conditioning) and Michael Latta (upper body) were scratches for Washington. Tom Wilson scored in the third period when a shot he casually flipped from behind the goal line somehow managed to elude Hammond and slip past him for Wilson’s third of the campaign.
