The Washington Capitals’ star Alex Ovechkin has added another milestone in his pursuit of greatness. With a hat-trick in a 7-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday, Ovechkin pushed his career goals total in NHL to 800.
Ovechkin is now only the third player in NHL history to reach this mark. He joins all-time greats Wayne Gretzky (894) and Gordie Howe (801).
“It’s a special night. To get two goals right away, I could feel the game,” Ovechkin told ESPN after the game. “I’m really proud that it’s over. Now, we can move on and focus on the next one.”
The next one for Ovechkin will be to chase Gretzky’s record for most goals in NHL history. While the record previously seemed unattainable, Ovechkin has a real chance to do something about it. He has 20 goals this season with 51 games left to be played. The 37-year-old player scored at least 48 goals in each of the last four full seasons.
Ovechkin already has a number of goal-scoring records in his possession, including being the player with the most NHL goal-scoring titles (9) and having the most career overtime goals (24), most career power-play goals (285) and most career game-opening goals (136).
