Alex Ovechkin will go down as one of the greatest hockey players ever.
Ovechkin is best known to be a tremendous goal scorer.
On Friday night, Ovechkin scored two goals to become number 2 all-time in goals scored.
He trails only the great one, Wayne Gretzky on the all time leading goal scorer list in NHL history.
Below, we discuss Ovechkin moving into number two all-time and whether he can catch Gretzky’s record.
Alex Ovechkin Is Second All-Time In Goals In NHL History
Just before the NHL went on a little break for the holidays, Ovechkin made a bit of history.
In the first period, Ovechkin scored a goal that tied Gordie Howe for 801 goals.
Well, tying Howe was not enough.
Alexander The Great scored an empty net goal with one minute left in the game to move into sole possession of number two all-time on the NHL’s goal-scoring list.
Mark Howe, the son of Gordie Howe sent a video message to congratulate Ovechkin.
From the son of Mr. Hockey himself, Mark Howe congratulates the #Gr8 on #Gr802#ALLCAPS | @LeidosInc pic.twitter.com/tG1AV7YpGp
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 24, 2022
At age 37, Ovechkin is not showing any signs of slowing down.
He has 22 goals on the season, which ranks fifth in the league.
Can Alex Ovechkin Catch Wayne Gretzky?
Ovechkin is 92 goals back from Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894 goals.
This record seemed like it would never be close to being broken but Ovechkin is on his way to making more history.
He has three years left on his contract with the Capitals but he may not need all three full seasons to break the record.
In the last four years that Ovechkin has played 65 games or more, he has not scored less than 48 goals.
He has 22 goals in 36 games played this season.
At the current pace, if Ovechkin plays 72 games this season, he will score about 44 goals.
This would put him 70 goals back from Gretzky’s record.
This means after this season, it will take Ovechkin approximately 1.5 seasons to break Gretzky’s record.
He is not showing any signs of slowing down.
As long as Ovechkin can stay healthy, he will break a record that seemed impossible to break.
Alexander The Great will pass the great one on the all-time goal scoring leaderboard.
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