Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals celebrates after scoring his 895th career goal to become the NHL all-time lead goal scorer. Photo: AFP
Alexander Ovechkin has become the leading goal scorer in NHL history breaking a tie atop the leaderboard with Wayne Gretzky by scoring his 895th career goal.
Ovechkin's history making goal came in the second period of the Washington Capitals' 4-1 loss to the host New York Islanders.
"They say records are made to be broken," Gretzky said during an on-ice ceremony. "But I'm not sure who's going to get more goals than that."
Ovechkin, completed his pursuit of Gretzky in appropriate fashion by adding to another NHL record with his 325th power-play goal.
The sellout crowd of 17,250 -- featuring thousands adorned in Capitals uniforms -- buzzed as he hit the ice after the Islanders' Casey Cizikas was whistled for tripping seven minutes into the second period.
A television timeout allowed the anticipation to build before Ovechkin, skating up along the left side of the ice, took a pass from longtime teammate Tom Wilson and fired a wrist shot from the faceoff circle that sailed past Sorokin's blocker.
Ovechkin raised his arms, skated a few steps and did a bellyflop on the ice as the crowd roared.
He collected the record-breaking goal in his 1,487th career game - the same number of NHL games Gretzky played.
"We have all witnessed history," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said.
A montage of Ovechkin's milestone goals aired as a blue carpet was rolled onto the ice next to a commemorative painting of "The Great 8" raising the Stanley Cup in 2018.
The scoreboard tribute ended with messages from his wife, Anastasia, their two children, and Ovechkin's mother, Tatyana.
His family joined him at center ice during the commemorative celebration.
The Isles remained on the ice and tapped their sticks before Ovechkin exchanged handshakes with the skaters and hugged netminder Ilya Sorokin.
The milestone goal capped an impressive sprint to the record by Ovechkin.
He turned 39 in September and has 42 goals this season despite missing almost six weeks with a broken leg. Ovechkin has 32 goals in his last 45 games, including at least one in each of the previous five.
Ovechkin's historic goal ended Gretzky's 31-year reign as the NHL's leading goal scorer and likely began his similarly lengthy tenure atop the all-time list.
-Reuters
