Congratulations to Alex Ovechkin on scoring goal No. 895 on Sunday. He did it against Ilya Sorokin and the New York Islanders, surpassing Wayne Gretzky on the all-time list. Not many people thought that a 39-year-old Russian would've scored 42 goals in 2024-25. Yet, here we are. We all know No. 8 is going to hit up the bar after this like he won the Stanley Cup.
Did you know he's only scored less than 30 goals once in his career? That came in 2020-21 when the COVID-19 pandemic shortened the NHL season. He's scored 50 or more goals nine times during his illustrious career, turning him into an NHL legend. It was apparent during his rookie season when he scored 100 points. 100! 52 goals and 54 assists for a rookie.
But let's go back to the Stanley Cup for a second. Despite the winger's greatness and regular season achievements, he's had one Stanley Cup Final appearance. That's criminal for someone of his magnitude, especially since he's the league's greatest goal scorer.
Still, he was the main reason why the Capitals won the Stanley Cup that year. The victim? The Vegas Golden Knights.
Granted, the Golden Knights had an incredible story of their own. They were an expansion team that was supposed to suck.
At least, that's what the experts thought.
However, they still gave the league a hard time before running into the "Great 8." In honor of Ovechkin breaking the all-time goals record, let's look back at 2018 and see how *GULP* the legendary winger broke the Golden Knights.
How Alex Ovechkin took over the 2018 Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights
Alex Ovechkin had an excellent five-game slate in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final. He scored three goals and two assists for the Washington Capitals during that series. In three of Washington's four wins, Ovechkin scored a goal. In turn? He won the Conn Smythe that year, adding another accolade to the three-time Hart Trophy winner's resume.
But his greatest moment came in Game 5 that season. Going up against Marc-Andre Fleury was a tall task. But not for the Russian winger. All night, the Golden Knights tried hacking into him. They tried stripping the puck. Still, he had five shots during that game. The Conn Smythe winner didn't even get a star for that game.
Still, he got a second-period goal on the power play. Setting up in front of the left faceoff circle, Nicklas Backstrom was looking for the open man. Not a single Golden Knight was covering that spot. Not one. It was a foolish play as the Swedish center found his Capitals teammate for the 2-1 lead.
The rest is history. Sure, the Golden Knights left with a bad taste in their mouths. They weren't just close to making NHL history. They were close to making sports history. However, they couldn't figure out an unstoppable force from Moscow. At least Vegas won the Stanley Cup in 2023.
For a deeper perspective, Ovechkin has eight career goals and four career assists against the Golden Knights. That included a hat trick on November 17, reminding Las Vegans of that fateful series. Still, you must respect a legend who's scored countless goals for two decades. Here's to one of the best to ever do it!