Alex Ovechkin bounced back from a slow start to his California road trip by scoring his 887th career goal on Saturday against the San Jose Sharks, bringing him within eight goals of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record. Ovechkin had gone goalless in the first two games of the trip and had no shots on goal in the previous game against Los Angeles. Despite coming up empty on his first three shots and struggling on power plays, Ovechkin managed to score late in a 5-1 victory over the Sharks.
Coach Spencer Carbery expressed hope that Ovechkin’s goal would boost his confidence, as he had been facing challenges on the power play and generating quality chances. Ovechkin deflected a shot from Martin Fehervary past Georgi Romanov in the third period, receiving cheers from the crowd. This goal prevented Ovechkin from matching his longest goal drought of the season and brought him closer to Gretzky’s record.
The sellout crowd chanted “Ovi! Ovi!” in support of Ovechkin, who has scored on an NHL-record 182 goalies out of the 217 he has faced. Ovechkin now has 15 games remaining in the season to break the record. Despite facing doubts and challenges, Ovechkin continues to impress with his consistent goal-scoring prowess.
Ovechkin’s goal came after Trevor van Riemsdyk ended a 145-game goal drought, further highlighting the difficulty of scoring in the league. Ovechkin, a 39-year-old Russian star, has 34 goals this season and has reached at least 30 goals in a record 19 of his 20 seasons.
