Alex Ovechkin passes Joe Sakic for 10th all-time in scoring with three-point game
Alex Ovechkin achieved several milestones on Thursday night in a 6-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens, but most notably, he is now in the top 10 for all-time scoring.
The fun started just one minute into the game, where Ovechkin snapped home a shot off of a faceoff win on the power play to open the scoring for the Washington Capitals. He then continued to produce early in the second period, where he set up Ethen Frank on the power play two minutes into the middle frame for his second point of the game to give Washington a 2-1 lead. He then concluded the night with two more goals late in the third to secure the Capitals’ 8-4 win and get yet another hat trick.
MOVIN' ON UP 🤩
Alex Ovechkin has passed Joe Sakic and is now 10th all-time in points with 1,642! pic.twitter.com/q9NT0skLfD
With the four points, Ovechkin officially enters the top ten in all-time career points, surpassing Joe Sakic for 10th all-time in career points with 1,643. Next up on the list is Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, who is ninth with 1,708 points, but considering that he is still active, it’s unlikely that Ovechkin will catch him any time soon. The next closest non-active player on the list is Mario Lemieux in eighth, who has 1,723, a total that even if Ovechkin continues at his current pace, he won’t hit by the end of the season.
For those who were so concerned about Alex Ovechkin's empty-net goals as he chased down Wayne Gretzky's NHL goal record last season, he now has more goals than Gretzky (and everyone else) when excluding their empty-net goals, too.
Ovechkin 839 (66 ENG)
Gretzky 838 (56 ENG)
With Ovechkin’s goal, he also surpassed Wayne Gretzky in a different all-time goal scoring race, as he now has the most non-empty net goals in his career. While Ovechkin had notably overtaken Gretzky in all-time goals late in the 2024-25 season, he currently has 10 more empty net goals than Gretzky, so getting his 905th overall (along with 906 and 907) gives him the most non-empty net goals in NHL history as well.
Alex Ovechkin notched his 13th career opening-minute goal and tied Mark Messier for the second most in NHL history behind Sidney Crosby (15). #NHLStats
Tune in 🌎: https://t.co/dT34F4MhkC pic.twitter.com/qrBaO7TFaO
Ovechkin’s first goal was also his 13th goal scored in the opening minute of a game, which tied Mark Messier for the second-most all time. He also trails Crosby in this regard, as Crosby is first with 15.
The goals also extended his goal-scoring streak to four games, which tied him for the longest streak by a player at the age of 40 years or older. The 40 year old ties Jaromir Jagr and Dean Prentice, who both did it twice in their careers.
Ovechkin entered the night with seven goals and nine assists for 16 points in 20 games on the season.