Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin rose from 49th to 46th in games played in National Hockey League (NHL) history.
In the regular season match against Tampa, the Russian player appeared on the ice for the 1378th time. In this indicator, Ensan Damphus caught up with Dean Prentice and Joe Sakic. The leader of this indicator is Patrick Marlowe (1779).
The match between Washington and Tampa ended with a score of 1:2 (B). Luke Glendening scored for Tampa in regulation time. Anthony Mantha scored for Washington. Victor Hedman scored the decisive penalty shot for Tampa. Ovechkin also entered the shootout but was unable to defeat Igor Shesterkin.
Ovechkin now has 828 goals throughout his entire career in the NHL. The difference between the Russian forward and Wayne Gretzky, who holds the league record for the most goals in NHL history, is 66 goals. The Canadian football player has 894 goals in 1,487 matches.
This NHL season, the Russian forward scored 6+14 points in 31 regular season games.
Former Washington coach praised Ovechkin.