OVECHKIN SCORES 895TH, TOPS GRETZKY

History Made in Elmont

April 6, 2025, UBS Are­na, Elmont, New York – Alex Ovechkin did what many once thought impos­si­ble. The Wash­ing­ton Cap­i­tals for­ward scored his 895th career NHL goal, break­ing Wayne Gretzky’s long-stand­ing record that had seemed untouch­able.

From the open­ing face­off, the atmos­phere was elec­tric. Cap­i­tals fans in red flood­ed the stands, hop­ing to wit­ness his­to­ry. And when Ovechkin fired the puck from his sig­na­ture spot in the left face-off cir­cle, it slipped past Islanders goal­tender Ilya Sorokin and into the net.

Ovechkin dove onto the ice in cel­e­bra­tion. His team­mates leapt from the bench and swarmed him. In the stands, Gret­zky stood and applaud­ed, a wide smile on his face. The game was halt­ed for a lengthy ova­tion as the NHL hon­ored one of its great­est-ever moments.

A Complicated Legacy Beyond the Ice

Ovechkin’s sto­ry isn’t with­out con­tro­ver­sy. A known sup­port­er of Vladimir Putin, Ovechkin has faced sharp crit­i­cism, espe­cial­ly amid the back­drop of Russia’s war against Ukraine: his idol­’s army has killed at least 591 Ukrain­ian ath­letes. His con­tin­ued pub­lic sup­port for an author­i­tar­i­an regime casts a long shad­ow over his off-ice image.

Yet like many elite ath­letes, Ovechkin’s lega­cy is lay­ered. While his polit­i­cal views are trou­bling and deserve scruti­ny, they don’t erase what he’s achieved in the game or his con­tri­bu­tions to the Wash­ing­ton, D.C. com­mu­ni­ty. He has long sup­port­ed local char­i­ties, children’s hos­pi­tals, and youth hock­ey ini­tia­tives in the region, using his fame and wealth to make a real dif­fer­ence off the ice.

From “The Great One” to the Greatest

“As I always say, hock­ey is a team sport. With­out my boys, the orga­ni­za­tion, the fans – I’d nev­er have passed the Great One,” Ovechkin said after the goal.

Even Gret­zky, who held the record since his 1999 retire­ment, was gra­cious in defeat. “895 is pret­ty spe­cial. They say records are made to be bro­ken, but I’m not sure anyone’s going to score more than that,” he said.

Indeed, Ovechkin’s shot has defied defense for two decades. Every­one knew where the puck was going – they just couldn’t stop it.

A Long Road to Immortality

Ovechkin entered the 2024–25 sea­son need­ing 42 goals to break Gretzky’s record. He got off to a blis­ter­ing start, scor­ing 15 in his first 18 games. But a bro­ken leg dur­ing a Novem­ber game side­lined him for 16 games – the longest injury absence of his career.

The clock was tick­ing. Some doubt­ed he’d reach the record before the reg­u­lar sea­son end­ed on April 17. But when he returned, he didn’t miss a beat. The Cap­i­tals secured a play­off berth, and the focus shift­ed entire­ly to Ovechkin’s chase.

He made it count. The Islanders would win the game 4–1, but the score felt irrel­e­vant. For the Cap­i­tals faith­ful in atten­dance, the night was about some­thing big­ger.

The Final Chapter of the “GR8 Chase”

In his career, Ovechkin has rewrit­ten the NHL record book: most road goals, most emp­ty-net goals, and now, most goals ever. Back in 2018, he led Wash­ing­ton to its first Stan­ley Cup. Since then, fans have fol­lowed “The GR8 Chase” like a live doc­u­men­tary, track­ing every mile­stone with awe, frus­tra­tion, and antic­i­pa­tion.

NHL Com­mis­sion­er Gary Bettman cap­tured it best: “A unique pack­age of effer­ves­cent per­son­al­i­ty, dynam­ic phys­i­cal­i­ty, and oth­er-world­ly tal­ent for shoot­ing the puck. And today, he stands alone.”

Ovechkin, ever the show­man, summed it up in his own way, with a wink and a shout-out to the goalie he beat. “Thank you to Ilya Sorokin. Love you, broth­er.”