Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin tied Jaromir Jagger at 766 for No. 3 on the NHL's all-time goalscorer list after scoring twice in a 5-4 win over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.
Ovechkin, 36, scored his 35th goal of the season at 13:23 of the second period, scoring with a punishing check on Calgary defenseman Chris Tanev in the corner. He tied Jagger with his 36th goal in the empty Calgary nets with 1:48 remaining in the third period.
"Obviously, milestones like this, it's always good to hear the numbers," Ovechkin said. "It's huge, obviously, and how I always said, with those names and in this company, it's a great moment."
Ovechkin scored 766 goals in 1,253 NHL games from 2005–06. It took Jagger 1,733 games to reach 766 goals. He missed three seasons (2008–09 to 2010–11) while playing in the Continental Hockey League.
The 50-year-old Jagger last played in the NHL during the 2017-18 season. He continued his career with the Czech Extraliga's Kladno, competing in his season finale on Tuesday at Prague's O2 Arena, in a game that helped fund Ukrainian families seeking asylum in the Czech Republic after the Russian invasion. collected.
It was Ovechkin's career game-winning 120th goal, placing him a goal behind Gordy Howe for the second time, only behind Jagger (135). Ovechkin recorded the 157th multiple-goal game of his career, falling short of tying Brett Hull (158) for the second most goalscoring games in NHL history. Goal number 766 was Ovechkin's 47th empty net goal of his career, only behind Wayne Gretzky (56).
Of course, there's a huge chase for Ovechkin and Gretzky. Ovechkin is now 128 goals behind Gretzky's all-time NHL goalscoring record (894). If Ovechkin passes Jagger, the next benchmark will be Gordy Howe's 801 career goals.
Ovechkin has scored in three consecutive games.
"I think people are just excited for him," said Washington coach Peter Laviollet. "We don't talk about it much. I think everyone knows what's going on and it's wonderful to be a part of it."
Calgary got to within one after Elias Lindholm scored the second goal with 40 seconds, Ovechkin had a hat-trick in the falling seconds, but his shot over the empty net was deflected by Lindholm.
"I was hoping so, but it hit his skates. It's okay. I'll have it tomorrow," Ovechkin said.
Nick Dowd, who scored in the third period as Washington progressed for the Capitals, thought he and his teammates were going to see history.
"I couldn't believe that one was blocked at the end, but it was awesome," Dowd said. "Obviously we're so excited for him and people are trying to find him in all the snow and just a part of it to become one and just watch it, he's the best. So really happy for him."
It was Ovechkin's first road game since his comments about Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 25. Ovechkin has been a strong supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin for years. In 2017, he campaigned on Putin's behalf by starting a social media movement called Putin Team.
"Please, don't go to war any more. It doesn't matter who is at war - Russia, Ukraine, different countries - we have to live in peace," Ovechkin said.
Flames fans often booed Ovechkin whenever he touched the puck on Tuesday night, especially early in the game. After the game, Ovechkin spoke only about the competition.