Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals scored his 40th goal of the season in the first period of a home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, to become the first player in NHL history to achieve 13 40-goal seasons in his career.
Ovechkin was previously tied with Wayne Gretzky for 12 40-goal campaigns and before the game, there was a 20-minute on-ice ceremony in his honour, for passing Gordie Howie for second position on the all-time NHL goals list on December 23rd.
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He skated in down on the right side and sent a shot to the far post. His teammate Dylan Strome originally got credit for this game, after his stick seemed to direct the puck into the net, but after a review, it was discovered that it was the Blue Jackets Nick Blankenburg’s stick instead. Ovechkin received an official scoring change which gave him the marker.
But, Columbus stole the show with an impressive 7-6 overtime win over the Capitals.
Jack Roslovic exploited T.J. Oshie’s turnover to score his second goal of the night 2:34 into overtime, giving the Blue Jackets (22-41-7, 51 points) the win in a game they trailed 3-0 and 5-3.
‘Tonight was special day for me, for the whole organization, for fans. And, unfortunately, we lost,’ Ovechkin said.
‘For 10 minutes in the second period, we kind of stopped playing and gave them an opportunity to come back.’
Ovechkin’s family joined him for his pre-game ceremony, hugging his two children, as he was recognized in front of Capitals supporters.
Alex’s Capitals teammates joined in on the celebrations too and so did Bill Daly deputy NHL commissioner.
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Ever since he was a rookie in 2005-06, no other NHL player accumulated more than six 40-goal seasons, except Ovechkin.
This scoring pace is helping him chase down Gretzky’s ultimate goal-scoring record.
Tuesday’s game was the 820th tally of Ovechkin’s career, he now needs 75 more to pass Gretzky for the NHL’s all-time goals record.
