Washington Capitals

After breaking Wayne Gretzky's record and becoming the NHL's all-time leading scorer with his 895th goal on Sunday, Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin was celebrated by EA Sports in an epic hype video:

Ovechkin made history during the second period of Sunday's 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders. His teammates mobbed him on the ice as the game was paused to honor him.

Ovechkin was the EA Sports cover athlete for NHL 07 and NHL 21. He also earned the cover of 2K Sports' NHL 2K10.

Despite Sunday's loss, the Capitals still lead the Eastern Conference with a 49-19-9 record. Ovechkin will surely be motivated to add his second career Stanley Cup title to cap off his record-breaking season.

Alex Ovechkin stands alone as the most prolific goal-scorer in NHL history.

The Washington Capitals legend passed Wayne Gretzky on the all-time scoring list with his 895th career goal in the second period of Sunday's game against the New York Islanders.

Gretzky has been the NHL's all-time leading goal-scorer when he passed Gordie Howe's record in March 1994. The Great One retired after the 1998-99 season, he amassed 894 goals.

At the time, Howe (801) was the only other player with at least 750 goals. Jaromír Jágr eventually became the third member of the 750 club.

The 800-goal club added a third member when Ovechkin hit the milestone with a hat trick against the Chicago Blackhawks on Dec. 13, 2022. The Blackhawks were again witness to history when he tied Gretzky's mark with 894 goals on April 4.

Ovechkin was pegged as a potential star even before he was drafted with the No. 1 overall draft pick by the Capitals in 2004. He didn't make his NHL debut until the 2005-06 season due to the lockout that wiped out the entire 2004-05 campaign.

The Russian superstar scored 52 goals in his first season, the third-most ever by a rookie in NHL history. It also kicked off a string of five consecutive years with at least 46 goals to start his career.

Ovechkin has led the league in goals scored a record nine times. No other player has accomplished the feat more than seven times.

Even now, at the age of 39 and 20 seasons into his NHL career, Ovechkin has never really experienced a down period. The only time he failed to score at least 30 goals in a season was 2020-21 when the scheduled was shortened to 56 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ovechkin was already a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer no matter where he finished on the all-time goals list. He just further cemented his status as the best scorer in NHL history by surpassing Gretzky's record that had stood for 26 years.

As Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin closes in on Wayne Gretzky's NHL all-time goals record, he recently took on a meaningful cause.

The Capitals announced Wednesday that Ovechkin has partnered with the V Foundation to launch "THE GR8 CHASE for Victory Over Cancer," which will help raise awareness and funds for pediatric cancer research as part of the Hockey Fights Cancer initiative.

At 884 career goals entering Wednesday night's game against the New York Rangers, Ovechkin is 11 goals away from breaking Gretzky's record of 894 goals. In addition to continuing to cement his legacy as the greatest player of his generation, each goal he scores will benefit a great cause.

"From now through the remainder of his career, Alex is personally donating to pediatric cancer research for each goal he scores and his donations will be matched by Monumental Sports & Entertainment!" a press release stated. "100 percent of funds raised go to lifesaving childhood cancer research through the V Foundation and Hockey Fights Cancer."

The initiative has a suggested donation of $8, which pays homage to Ovechkin's jersey number, but fans are encouraged to donate any amount they can afford. The 39-year-old told ESPN's Greg Wyshynski that he wanted to make his chase for Gretzky's record mean something beyond what he accomplished on the ice.

"There is so much attention on the chase, so I'm using that to help. We should all help and make cancer go away," he said. "It doesn't matter where you live, cancer touches everyone. It's important for all of us to talk about finding a cure."

Ovechkin added that the focus on pediatric cancer research has been significant to him for most of his career.

"Our team has been doing a good job my whole career to try and help kids battling cancer. I can see all the times we go to hospitals to visit the kids, or they come to see us at practice or after games, they always have smiles," he said. "If we have a chance to help them, we have to take it."

The Washington Capitals had to hold on for a 3-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night despite Logan Thompson allowing a third-period goal due to distraction from nachos.

Thompson told reporters after the game a tray of cheese-covered nachos thrown onto the ice diverted his attention when Corey Perry scored a goal.

"I've never seen that before. Obviously, I've got to play to the whistle. That one's on me," said Thompson.

Capitals coach Spencer Carbery called it the "first" time he's ever seen a nacho-related incident on the ice, then joked "maybe we can bring them into the locker room" if anyone saved them.

The nachos could have played a significant role in the outcome of the game.

Thompson was able to regroup afterward, stopping the final four shots he saw the rest of the game to seal the win for Washington in a big game between two of the NHL's best teams.

The victory gave the Capitals 69 points, the most in the league. They have a four-point edge over the Winnipeg Jets in the race for the Presidents' Trophy.

Edmonton (61 points) is one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights, who have lost four straight games, for the top spot in the Pacific Division. The Oilers haven't won a division title since the 1986-87 season.

Alex Ovechkin is set to return to game action just 40 days after fracturing his left leg.

Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery announced that Ovechkin will play in the Caps' road game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

Ovechkin returned to full practice on Friday, per NHL.com's Tom Gulitti.

Carbery later said the team would determine Ovechkin's availability depending on how his leg reacted to the practice.

Ovechkin is now set to rejoin Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas on the Capitals' top line, while slotting in alongside Strome, John Carlson, Jakob Chychrun and Tom Wilson on the club's top power-play unit.

Ovechkin has missed 16 games since suffering a fractured left fibula after a leg-on-leg collision during a Nov. 18 game against the Utah Hockey Club.

The stretch marked one of the longest injury absences of his career. Prior to the fracture Ovechkin had missed just 35 games due to injury, and 59 games total, through the first 19 seasons of his NHL career.

The Capitals have historically struggled with their captain sidelined, with the franchise having marked a 26-28-5 record without Ovechkin prior to the season.

This time around, offseason additions including Strome and Chychrun helped the Caps stay at the top of the Metropolitan Division with a 10-5-1 mark in Ovechkin's absence.

The return of Ovechkin, who had 15 goals and 25 points in 18 games to start the season, will make the Capitals a legitimate challenger to beat out top teams including the New Jersey Devils, Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs in the race to the top of the East.

His comeback also marks the resumption of his bid to beat out Wayne Gretzky for the NHL goalscoring record. Gretzky currently holds the all-time title after scoring 894 times between 1979 and 1999.

Ovechkin had scored twice against Utah before suffering his injury, bringing his career total to 868 goals. He sits 26 tallies shy of Gretzky's record with 48 games remaining in the Capitals' season heading into Saturday.

Alex Ovechkin's quest to surpass Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record will be put on hold for at least another month.

The Washington Capitals announced Thursday that further consultation with team doctors revealed that the Russian—who was already on injured reserve—had a fracture to his left fibula and would miss at least the next 4-6 weeks.

Ovechkin suffered the injury on Monday night during a collision with the Utah Hockey Club's Jack McBain.

"Everyone's bummed out," winger Tom Wilson told reporters. "We were sitting there saying: 'This is weird. Like, it's unbelievable that he's actually hurt.' It's one of those things where like, 'He's going to miss games'? I've been around a long time, and it's new to me."

Ovechkin, 39, is currently just 26 goals shy of Gretzky's NHL-record of 894 career tallies. It appeared he might top the mark this season after he scored 15 goals in his first 18 games, a blistering pace.

One major factor in his pursuit of the goals record—a record once deemed unlikely to be broken, given Gordie Howe is the only other player in NHL history to reach 800 goals (801) alongside Gretzky and Ovechkin—has been his durability.

Before this injury, the 13-time All-Star had only missed 59 games total in his first 19 seasons, and only 35 of those due to injury, while maintaining an aggressive, fearless approach.

"He doesn't go out there and just coast around," Wilson noted. "He's played 20 years every shift running over guys and skating. He's a power forward, the best goal-scorer ever maybe, and he's a power forward that plays the game really hard."

One record Ovechkin won't be touching, though, is Gretzky's incredible assists record, which stands at 1,963, over 700 assists clear of Ron Francis in second place (1,249). But that was never Ovechkin's game.

Assuming Ovechkin returns at some point in late December or early January, he will have around 45 games to top Gretzky's goals record this season. Given his torrid scoring pace to start the season, it's certainly a possibility.