Ovechkin reaches 30 goals in 18th career championship

Another day of the NHL regular championship brought another record for the main Russian hockey star Alexander Ovechkin. The goal against the Detroit Red Wings in the away match won by his club, the Washington Capitals, was Ovechkin’s 30th in the championship. He reached this mark for the 18th time in his career. No one has been able to do this so often.

That evening it happened that Alexander Ovechkin lost one record and gained one. Lost is about the current century record for the number of goals scored in the regular season. Ovechkin had 65 of them 15 years ago. Now he galloped by one goal, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews scored against the New Jersey Devils. The record acquired, however, is also cool.

This season has not been easy for the phenomenal sniper, who is already 38, for a long time. It’s so difficult that in the fall, at the height of his personal crisis, no one would have been surprised if, at the end of the championship, Ovechkin had a pitiful handful of goals in his assets. But he overcame the crisis, regained his tone and flair – and in the second half of the championship he played almost as effectively as in his younger years. The match with Detroit was no exception in this sense.

He was extremely important for both rivals. “Washington” and “Detroit” are waging a fierce battle at the end of the regular season for the remaining vacant pair of playoff spots from the Eastern Conference, and each game the situation changes quite dramatically.

Let’s say this victory allowed the Washingtonians to enter the “Cup zone”, and, on the contrary, the Detroiters were thrown out of it.

And in principle, there will be nothing strange if a week after the end of the regular season, it will be remembered almost as decisive.

Washington’s success in it was ensured primarily by goalkeeper Charlie Lindgren, who played simply divinely, stopped 43 shots, coped with one-on-one situations, and missed from Patrick Kane only right before the final siren, as well as an explosion at the end of the second period. Within just over two minutes, the visitors scored two goals. First, Dylan Strome scored, and then Teejay Oshie sent Alexander Ovechkin into the break with a pass, and he did not disappoint, hitting the goal from his favorite left throw-in circle.

And all North American media resources that pay attention to hockey, of course, immediately flashed with information lightning. Well, yes, for Ovechkin the puck was 30th in the championship.

Thirty is not exactly a grandiose mark, let’s say it’s solid. Usually only strikers with the status of at least very, very good score this much.

So, before this championship, Alexander Ovechkin held the record for the number of seasons with at least three dozen goals together with Mike Gartner. The fast Canadian forward shone in the 1980s and 1990s with Washington, as well as with the Minnesota North Stars, New York Rangers, Toronto and Phoenix Coyotes. Each of them had 17 such seasons. Now Ovechkin has become the sole record holder, forcing us to remember some details of his amazing sports biography once again. For example, that in total he has already played 19 seasons in the NHL. That is, in only one game did he not reach the 30-goal mark. But this was just the season three years ago, greatly shortened by the coronavirus pandemic. In that championship, Ovechkin scored 24 goals in 45 matches.

And, of course, everyone remembered the main record that Alexander Ovechkin had in his sights. The NHL’s all-time leading scorer, Wayne Gretzky, has 894 goals. After the meeting with Detroit, Ovechkin is 42 behind. The distance already looks quite modest.

Alexey Dospehov