{"id":833777,"date":"2025-03-13T14:12:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T19:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/13\/ovi-breaks-one-record-gets-closer-to-gretzkys\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T14:12:16","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T19:12:16","slug":"ovi-breaks-one-record-gets-closer-to-gretzkys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/13\/ovi-breaks-one-record-gets-closer-to-gretzkys\/","title":{"rendered":"Ovi breaks one record, gets closer to Gretzky&#8217;s"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-video=\"watch,640,360,43446064,whitelist-IT|CO|TT|KY|UY|PW|ZW|NL|CG|CM|CI|CD|BI|MP|GF|NE|BS|AR|ML|GQ|RW|SX|AW|PY|SM|BO|GR|AG|BJ|SL|AO|CV|MZ|JM|VC|SN|FJ|US|AS|GU|PR|VI|UM|SZ|LC|KE|TG|ZM|LR|GM|KN|SC|UG|CU|MG|NA|GW|VA|GA|BE|CF|DJ|GH|MU|MS|GY|SS|TC|VE|KM|AU|CY|MW|GD|EC|NG|BF|BM|TD|AI|PE|ER|GP|TR|BB|MH|GN|SD|ZA|BQ|SR|CL|ST|ET|MT|ES|RO|VG|MQ|BR|NZ|HU|BW|FM|LS|SO|RE|MR|TZ|\" data-cerebro-id=\"6789c3de6dbf784a05d26aa2\" data-title=\"Alex Ovechkin's 874th career goal wins it in OT for the Capitals\" data-source=\"espn\" data-contributing-partner=\"wsc\"><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p><span>Alex Ovechkin&#8217;s 874th career goal wins it in OT for the Capitals (0:58)<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Alex Ovechkin breaks through in overtime with his 874th career goal to propel the Capitals to a 1-0 win. (0:58)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>ESPN News Services<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>Jan 16, 2025, 10:16 PM ET<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a data-player-guid=\"71847c2f-dbf5-92bd-a95f-3857464ad180\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/3101\/alex-ovechkin\">Alex Ovechkin<\/a> broke one NHL record and in the process moved a step closer to another Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>The <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"cbe677ee-361e-91b4-5cae-6c4c30044743\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/team\/_\/name\/wsh\/washington-capitals\">Washington Capitals<\/a> star broke the mark for the most goaltenders scored on, beating <a data-player-guid=\"7fe9537f-3fe7-3f13-9544-c6d47b1078d7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/4894703\/leevi-merilainen\">Leevi Merilainen<\/a> in overtime to give the Capitals a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/game\/_\/gameId\/401688307\/capitals-senators\">1-0<\/a> victory over the<a data-clubhouse-guid=\"3edd2776-99a9-c0bb-6a73-863b428e25ef\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/team\/_\/name\/ott\/ottawa-senators\"> Senators<\/a> in Ottawa, Ontario.<\/p>\n<p>Merilainen became the 179th goalie Ovechkin has scored against, breaking a tie with Jaromir Jagr atop the career list.<\/p>\n<p>Ovechkin&#8217;s goal came on his third shot on net and fifth attempt. He took a pass from <a data-player-guid=\"6f01887e-3563-9fb3-9641-1719a86e4bff\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/4352803\/rasmus-sandin\">Rasmus Sandin<\/a> on a 2-on-1 breakaway and fired it past Merilainen.<\/p>\n<p>Ovechkin raised his arms and pumped his fist before he was mobbed by teammates. It was his 27th career overtime goal, extending his record. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/3114\">Sidney Crosby<\/a> is second with 22.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I knew I should take a shot as soon as I can because I thought he may be thinking maybe I will pass it back to Sandy,&#8221; Ovechkin said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was a good one, and it went in, so I&#8217;ll take it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Merilainen, a 22-year-old rookie from Finland, was appearing in his eighth game in the league.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You have to know when he&#8217;s on the ice he&#8217;s going to shoot everything like he did today,&#8221; Merilainen said.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Ovechkin is chasing an even bigger record &#8212; Wayne Gretzky&#8217;s career goals mark. With No. 874, he moved 21 away from passing Gretzky&#8217;s mark of 894 that long seemed unapproachable.<\/p>\n<p>The 39-year-old winger is on pace to get to 895 and beyond this spring.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in January, Ovechkin scored for a 28th time on <a data-player-guid=\"622ea98f-2bed-c90a-537d-c20a89b2b10f\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/2346\/marc-andre-fleury\">Marc-Andre Fleury<\/a>, tops among all the netminders he has faced since arriving in North America in 2005.<\/p>\n<p>Thursday&#8217;s goal marked the first time Ovechkin has scored in overtime during a 1-0 game in his career. It was also his 13th career overtime goal on the road, surpassing Jagr and <a data-player-guid=\"ff6af87a-96de-67cf-1ff1-16ba3c98f8fa\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/player\/_\/id\/5160\/john-tavares\">John Tavares<\/a> for the most in NHL history.<\/p>\n<p>It was Ovechkin&#8217;s 21st goal of the season in just his 29th game &#8212; he missed 16 games because of a broken left leg. He has gotten to 20 in all 20 of his seasons in the league, including 2013 when a lockout shortened the season to 48 games and 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic cut the schedule to 56 games.<\/p>\n<p><i>Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> Tami Mcnaught <br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMimAFBVV95cUxNNm5xbHJWOHBjSU5adXE2V01PSFVBc0RuNndZM3AyOFktQ2JZSGw2aE1ZaXJzWXFubjNGN210V3BnUnNteTNnamxhUEVGUVViV2dDTm1wWFNGWlBaYm45NmltaEs5NU1FM3hrUlIwdnNGY2YwRWYwbFU3bm1kRE45dHA5Wlc5Rkg3dndPVmVZcVZyR1pvaVFSNw?oc=5\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alex Ovechkin&#8217;s 874th career goal wins it in OT for the Capitals (0:58) Alex Ovechkin breaks through in overtime with his 874th career goal to propel the Capitals to a 1-0 win. (0:58) ESPN News Services Jan 16, 2025, 10:16 PM ET Alex Ovechkin broke one NHL record and in the process moved a step<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":833778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2000,3543],"tags":[6993,6744],"class_list":{"0":"post-833777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaks","8":"category-record","9":"tag-breaks","10":"tag-record"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}