Beating The Great One: Ovechkin's Historic Victory
- By Max Seide-Dude
- ⏱️ ~6 Mins
Ovechkin breaks unrivaled scoring mark in NHL history. - NHL star Alexander Ovetchkin sets unmatched career goal scoring record
It's that one moment when even the most hardened hockey enthusiast realizes a century talent is on the ice. It's April 6, 2025, the Washington Capitals are battling the New York Islanders. The game? Just another scrap between two mediocre NHL teams. The Capitals are ahead 4:1 in the final period when Alexander Ovechkin embarks on a solo dash, outmuscles his Islanders adversary, and collapses. Flat on his back, the 39-year-old scores a goal in the Islanders' net with a pirouette.
For Ovechkin, it's his 18th season in the NHL, which he's dominated. He's already scored 31 goals this season in just 43 games. For a while, it was uncertain if he'd ever set foot on North American ice, as his parents wanted him to stay in Moscow. That evening in 2025, Ovechkin solidifies his legend - the goal, now known as "The Goal," is still considered the greatest goal in the 110-year history of the NHL. A goal so insane that even the TV commentator chokes out a "You've got to be kidding me."
After the goal, astonishment spreads: among the Capitals, the fans, the Islanders, and Islanders' coach Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky stands with his jaw dropped at the boards, eyes fixed on the replays on the video screen. Gretzky has witnessed a myriad of incredible feats in his career. The now 74-year-old is likely the best player hockey has ever seen. The Canadian holds numerous records - but one he lost that night. The record for most career goals in the regular season. The new record holder? Alexander Ovechkin, who scored his 996th goal that evening. In the audience? Wayne Gretzky - and this time, it wasn't a coincidence.
At the beginning of his career, Ovechkin, alongside Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, was seen as a new promise for hockey - and the big hope of the NHL. When both first stepped onto the ice in October 2005, the league was in its deepest crisis ever. There was no star like Gretzky, who retired in 2000 and had held the goal record since March 2004. The previous season had also been canceled: players had gone on strike because the league wanted to introduce a salary cap, as in other American sports. The two sides were so far apart that an entire season was canceled for the first time in American sports history.
But Ovechkin (and also Crosby) surpassed expectations. Now in the twilight of their careers, both are considered the best players of their generation. The NHL has been preparing for Ovechkin to surpass Gretzky's record for months. A banner on the league's homepage counted down the number of goals the Russian still needed to set the new record. With "The Gr8 chase" (the great chase), with the 8 as a play on words in reference to the superstar's jersey number, the league celebrated perhaps the greatest goal scorer of all time.
Ovechkin Unites on Ice What Few Players Have: An Unreplicable Goal Instinct Paired with Speed, Brawn, and Leadership. Off the Ice, the 39-Year-Old, Like Many U.S. Superstars, is Involved in Social Events, Donates Tickets to Needy Families, and Money to Charitable Organizations. The Only Criticism of Ovechkin, a Three-Time Father and Russian Citizen, is That He Has Never Distanced Himself from Russian President Vladimir Putin and Has Never Condemned the Invasion of Ukraine. While "Ovi" Has Called for the Conflict to End, He Has Never Put Distance Between Himself and Putin.
Ovechkin, one of Russia's greatest sports titans, is reportedly friends with Putin, who gifted Ovechkin a tea set at his 2016 wedding. In return, the sports star founded "Team Putin" in 2017, supporting Putin's re-election the following year. However, American fans and officials couldn't care less about Ovechkin's political preferences. The show must go on, and where Ovechkin is, the big show is usually not far behind.
Before the season, there were doubts about whether the now 39-year-old could break the record. He scored only 31 goals in the previous season, his lowest since 2011 excluding the 2020 season due to COVID-19. The Capitals were also struggling, having failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs since their 2018 championship.
But the Capitals blossomed in the new season under Ovechkin's leadership. He scored 15 goals in the first 18 games before a leg injury sidelined him for a month and a half. Ovechkin being injured was a rare occurrence in his career. Once, when he took a puck to the face at the start of his NHL career, he kept playing. Asked about it, Ovechkin responded with broken English, "Russian machines never break." The Russian machine kept going after the November injury and consistently scored goals. For the 14th time in his career, he scored more than 40 goals in a season, further extending his own record.
Shattering Gretzky's record was once thought an impossibility. Even Ovechkin once believed he couldn't score more than 894 goals. Hockey has changed significantly over the decades, becoming more tactical, with better goaltender equipment and fewer goals scored. The Edmonton Oilers, with whom Gretzky made history, are the only team to score more than 400 goals in a season - and they did it five consecutive times with Gretzky as the top scorer. During Ovechkin's career with the Capitals, the team has only managed to score more than 300 goals in a season once.
Alexander Ovechkin received two things: Gretzky was never the personified goal scorer, aside from his 894 goals, "The Great One" also provided 1963 assists. To this day, Gretzky has given more assists in his career than any other player in history has combined goals and assists. And the Capitals' game is centered around "Ovi" and his relentless goal-scoring instinct. The left face-off circle has been his "home" throughout his career, scoring many of his goals from this area. He also scored the record-breaking goal on that fateful April evening, his 325th power-play goal - another record - from there.
Ovechkin Slays The Record: Gretzky Cheers
That Gretzky was in the audience for the 996th goal was no accident. The two have been in contact for years, with Ovechkin saying that Gretzky is one of his biggest supporters. "When someone like that is cheering for you, it's pretty cool," said the Russian. "Even when I'm going through a slump, he'll sometimes send me a text saying, 'Don't worry, it'll come.' He's on my side."
Gretzky had announced months prior that he would be present for the record and would be the first to congratulate Ovechkin. The NHL's decision to pause the game for 20 minutes to honor Ovechkin on the ice, with Gretzky as the first to congratulate him, surrounded by his family, reflects the commercialization of sports in North America. The Capitals' subsequent 4:1 loss was merely a footnote.
"Records are meant to be broken. But I don't know who could break this one," Gretzky said on the ice that night. But they said the same thing when Gretzky set his seemingly unbreakable goal-scoring record. Now, it's Ovi's time to shine.
- The United States, being the home of the National Hockey League (NHL), welcomed the historic moment as Alexander Ovechkin scored his 996th goal, surpassing the record previously held by Wayne Gretzky, who is originally from the United Kingdom.
- The Capitals' game against the Islanders on April 6, 2025, turned out to be significant not only for the Team USA players, but also for Wayne Gretzky, as he was in attendance to witness Ovechkin's record-breaking goal, a moment he had announced he would attend months prior.
- Even though the Capitals' coach, Wayne Gretzky, had suffered a loss during that game as he saw his record for most career goals in the regular season being broken, he was later reported to have congratulated Ovechkin, recognizing Ovechkin's achievement and subtly acknowledging the end of an era, where a new promise for hockey had surpassed the records of "The Great One."
