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Alex Ovechkin went from trailing Mr. Hockey on the NHL’s all-time targets listing to passing him the identical night time. Ovechkin scored his 801st and 802nd profession targets towards the Winnipeg Jets on Friday, pulling him forward of the legendary Gordie Howe for second all-time.
The historic night time started late within the first interval, when Dylan Strome put Ovechkin in place to fireplace a slap shot previous Jets goaltender David Rittich. Ovechkin’s first aim of the night time got here at 18:22 of the opening interval and helped the Capitals construct a lead they’d by no means relinquish.
Through a lot of the next two durations it seemed as if Ovechkin would don’t have anything greater than the tie for not less than yet one more sport. But with precisely a minute remaining and his crew up 3-1, Ovechkin despatched a shot to the again of the Jets’ empty internet to each safe a win and his place as No. 2 on the all-time targets listing.
Back on Dec. 13, Ovechkin grew to become simply the third participant in league historical past, together with Howe and Wayne Gretzky, to attain 800 targets. Ovechkin got here into that sport towards the Chicago Blackhawks sitting on 797 profession targets, and he scored a hat trick to hit the historic milestone.
The No. 1 general choose within the 2004 NHL Draft, Ovechkin has been terrorizing opposing goaltenders since his rookie season in 2005-06. That 12 months, he gained the Calder Trophy with 52 targets — and he hasn’t slowed down since. On his technique to establishing himself as one of many biggest goal-scorers in hockey historical past, Ovechkin has gained the Rocket Richard Trophy because the league’s main scorer 9 occasions.
With Ovechkin having handed Howe, his subsequent aim is leapfrogging the NHL’s all-time chief in targets, Wayne Gretzky. That might be a troublesome activity, although. Gretzky scored 894 targets in his profession, which supplies him greater than 90 targets price of cushion as Ovechkin continues his chase.
