Washington Capitals left winger Alexander Ovechkin of Moscow, Russia became the eighth player in National Hockey League history to score 700 career goals. Ovechkin achieved the mark at 4:50 of the third period from Evgeny Kuznetsov of Chelyabinsk, Russia and Nick Jensen of Rogers, MN in a 3-2 Capitals loss to the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on Saturday.
The previous seven NHL players to score a minimum of 700 career goals were Wayne Gretzky (894), Gordie Howe (801), Jaromir Jagr (766), Brett Hull (741), Marcel Dionne (731), Phil Esposito (717) and Mike Gartner (708). Ovechkin also has a wide margin on the player who has the second most goals all-time among active players. San Jose Sharks center Patrick Marleau has 561 goals and is 25th overall all-time.
Ovechkin is also the all-time leading Russian born NHL goal scorer of all-time. Sergei Fedorov is second on the list with 483 goals (51st overall). The all-time leading European-born player in goals is Jagr.
In 60 regular season games, Ovechkin has 42 goals and 17 assists for 59 points. He is a -13 with 28 penalty minutes, 17 power play points, three game winning goals, 285 shots on goal, one faceoff win, 24 blocked shots, 161 hits, 27 takeaways and 43 giveaways.
The Capitals meanwhile have been ice cold as a team as of late. In their last nine games, Washington has only won two games. They have also lost four games in a row.
Even though Washington has not played good hockey as of late, they are still in a strong position in the NHL standings. With a record of 37 wins, 18 regulation losses and six losses in extra time, the Capitals are still tied for first place with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Metropolitan Division with 80 points. In fact, it is the Penguins who the Capitals play on Sunday, in a nationally televised game on NBC before the World Golf Championships from Mexico City.
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