Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin scored his 872nd goal in a match against the New York Rangers, according to the results on the official website of the National Hockey League (NHL). This allowed the athlete to reduce the gap with Canadian Wayne Gretzky in the list of the championship’s best snipers to 22 goals.
Ovechkin scored midway through the third period and also added an assist to increase his NHL career points total to 1,580, passing Ray Bourque on the all-time list.
Earlier, a video appeared online in which Ovechkin, using Russian obscenities, reported Washington’s victory in the match against the Boston Bruins, which took place on January 1. He also advised fans to get rid of the consequences of the wild New Year’s celebration.
Before that, two-time Olympic champion Vyacheslav Fetisov pointed out that Ovechkin deserves the right to be called the best athlete every year . He also noted the goalkeeper of the Florida Panthers HC, Sergei Bobrovsky, who came out to the championship parade with the Russian flag.
In addition, New York Rangers forward Artemi Panarin scored his 500th point in a match against the Florida Panthers in the NHL regular season. This became a club record for the hockey player. In total, he has 165 goals and 335 assists.