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Alex Ovechkin Surpasses Wayne Gretzky with 895th Career Goal to Become NHL’s All-Time Leading Scorer

Alex Ovechkin scored his 895th career goal to surpass Wayne Gretzky as the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer. The record breaking moment came against the New York Islanders in the second period of a 1-4 loss for the Washington Capitals.

Ovechkin’s record-breaking goal came on a power play, 7:26 into the second period. He scored on a one-timer from above the left circle to put his name atop the NHL’s all-time scoring list. The game was immediately paused for an on-ice ceremony. The entire Islanders team lined up to shake Ovechkin’s hand, and Wayne Gretzky came down from his suite to personally congratulate him. Gretzky shook Ovechkin’s hand and openly wondered whether Ovechkin’s new record would ever be broken.

Selected first overall in the 2004 NHL Draft, Ovechkin has been one of the league’s top offensive forces since his rookie season, when he scored 52 goals. Since then, he has scored at least 30 goals in every season of his career, excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Gretzky had held the record since March 1994, when he passed Gordie Howe. His record stood for 31 years and 14 days before Ovechkin finally surpassed it on Sunday.

Now that Ovechkin has broken the record, the question becomes: how many goals will he finish his career with? He is likely to reach the 900-goal mark soon, but could he push all the way to 1,000? Ovechkin signed a five-year contract extension in 2021 that runs through the 2025–26 season, potentially his final year in the NHL. He has also hinted at a desire to return to Russia to finish his playing career, but until then, the record will continue to climb as the Capitals look to make a deep playoff run in the coming weeks.

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