Despite the Washington Capitals’ 8-5 loss to the unsuspecting Buffalo Sabres, Alex Ovechkin pulled closer to breaking the NHL scoring record as he is now five goals away from surpassing the legendary Wayne Gretzky for the most goals scored in the history of the NHL. So far, it has been a hyped campaign, and one can say that this is really a hyped push for the Capitals’ veteran star.

At the age of 39, Ovechkin is now knocking in the doorstep of the goal record set by Gretzky, who scored his final goal on March 29, 1999. Known as “the Great One”, Gretzky has been able to come up with explosive games over the years, setting the standard for his greatness in the game and cementing his place in history.

Ovechkin, however, played at a high level for most of his career, and now he is on the cusp of breaking and rewriting history now more than ever, which says a lot about the impressive chase that he’s been gunning for so far. Now more than ever, Ovechkin is bringing fiery performances in the season and is leading the Caps to the playoffs – all while accomplishing his own goals.

The GR8 Chase Closing Fast

Starting out the season with just 853 career goals, many expected Ovechkin to come up short considering his age and the Capitals’ waning dominance in the league entering the campaign. However, both proved to be wrong so far as Ovechkin has blazed his way through the season and has scored big numbers – all while the Capitals have kept on grinding their way to the top of the league.

Ovechkin scored 15 goals in his first 18 games before going down with a broken fibula back in November. Many thought that it would halt his campaign to break Gretzky’s goal record, but he was just out for five weeks and returned to form in a snap, not even missing a single beat since returning to injury.

Scoring his 890th goal in a loss to the Sabres, Ovechkin now moves four goals behind to tie the record and five to set a new record now more than ever. With nine games left to play, it seems that there are high expectations for the Capitals star to at least break the record or even become the first to reach 900 goals.

A Legend Among Men

There are only three players with at least 800 goals in the history of the NHL, which includes Gretzky (894), Ovechkin (890), and Gordie Howe (801). Ovechkin’s climb, however, has been really impressive with the way he has kept on scoring at a high level. In 2005, Ovechkin scored his first goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets, then scored his 50th against the Atlanta Thrashers in 2006. A year later, Ovechkin clinched 100 goals against the New York Rangers.

What’s surprising is that Ovechkin has tallied only 32 career hat tricks, even missing out in 2011-12, 2014-15, 2020-21, and 2023-24.

Ovechkin is likely expected to break the scoring record by April 4th vs Chicago or April 6th vs the Islanders, assuming that he scores at least one goal against Boston (April 1) and Carolina (April 2).

At this point, one can say that Ovechkin is really ramping up his big game, and it is easy to expect that the star is going to set his massive record and leave his mark in the history of the league.