Alex Ovechkin ties NHL record with his ninth 50-goal season

Alex Ovechkin made history on Wednesday night.

With two goals in the Washington Capitals’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, Ovechkin reached the 50-goal plateau for the ninth time in his career. He’s now tied with Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy for most 50-goal seasons in an NHL career.

Beyond that, at 36 years old, Ovechkin became the oldest player in NHL history to record a 50-goal season. The record was held by John Bucyk for over 50 years, as he scored 51 goals in 1970-71 at the age of 35.

Ovechkin now has 780 goals for his career. He passed Brett Hull and Jaromir Jagr on the NHL’s all-time goal list earlier this season and he currently sits alone in third place. Next up for Ovechkin is Gordie Howe, who has 801 goals, and then it’s Gretzky’s all-time record of 894 goals.

The NHL has four different 50-goal scorers this season. Auston Matthews leads the way with 58 goals, Leon Draisaitl is in second place with 54 goals, and both Chris Kreider and Ovechkin have 50 goals. Kyle Connor, Kirill Kaprizov, and Connor McDavid all have an outside chance of reaching 50 goals, as they currently sit at 43.