Alexander Ovechkin’s milestone chase and Russian NHL achievements

Philadelphia Flyers – Washington Capitals – 1:4

The ongoing NHL season has presented a tough run for Russian forward and Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin. His longest stretch of scoring recently was three games, and goal droughts have been a recurring theme. Prior to facing Philadelphia, there were three consecutive quiet games, which did not help him draw any nearer to Gordie Howe’s 801 career goals or to Wayne Gretzky’s historic 894, the all-time mark many still chase.

During the game against Philadelphia, Ovechkin also missed a clear scoring chance. He stood alone in front of the empty net but struck the crossbar instead of finding the back of the net.

Yet fortune smiled on Ovechkin when, late in the third period, Philadelphia pulled their goalie with two minutes left. The score was 1:2, and the visitors faced a desperate push. The opposite happened: Ovechkin seized the moment, capitalizing on the vacant net to notch a pair of goals in just over a minute.

Following this clash, Ovechkin’s total reached 795 career goals, leaving him just six shy of second place in the NHL’s all-time scoring race, a position long held as a race to Gordie Howe’s 801. In the pursuit of Gretzky, he moved to within 100 goals of the limit—99 to go to the next milestone.

Additionally, Ovechkin is narrowing Gretzky’s record for goals scored against empty nets. The goals against Philadelphia marked his 50th and 51st empty-net tallies, bringing him to within five goals of matching Gretzky’s notable mark.

After this game, the Russian marked a few more points and climbed to 13th place in the NHL for career games. He has played 405 contests, surpassing Ray Bourque (404). The next target in this category is Paul Coffey with 408 games, while Gretzky remains the standard bearer at 824.

On the night, Ovechkin also crossed another milestone by playing his 1302nd game, which secured him a clear second place among Russian players, ahead of Sergey Gonchar.

At the end of the match, Ovechkin’s frustration spilled over into a confrontation with Canadian Flyers forward Travis Konecny. The two exchanged tense words as the action broadened into a brief melee near the boards, with both sides showing visible emotion.

Fortunately, the tension cooled quickly, and both teams moved on. “Maybe the reaction wasn’t as big as it seemed,” Konecny commented later. “We were just tired of losing.”

Ovechkin reflected with calm resolve. “They have character and a strong team; they were upset by the defeat, that’s all,” he said.

Evgeny Kuznetsov, the Russian forward, added two assists in the game and also assisted on the second Ovechkin goal, helping the captain complete a brace against the empty net. Kuznetsov now has 17 assists on the season, the best among Capitals players, and his stat line helped him rise to eighth place in the franchise’s all-time assists list, with 360 career helpers for Washington.

Other achievements of Russian players in the NHL

Kirill Kaprizov has continued to lift the Minnesota Wild. In the latest regular-season tilt, the Wild fell 3–5 to the Calgary Flames, yet Kaprizov continued his record-breaking streak. He opened the scoring and extended his run to 13 straight games, with a goal streak reaching seven. No one else in Minnesota has matched this achievement.

Kaprizov currently holds the longest goal streak in the league this season, while Nikita Kucherov and Jason Robertson sit just one game behind with six-game stretches.

New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin shone in a 5–1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights, tallying an assist hat-trick across three of his team’s goals. The most significant moment came with his first assist, which propelled Panarin past 600 career NHL points.

Since debuting in the NHL in the 2015/16 season, only three players have logged more points: Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Patrick Kane. Their total tallies stand at 749, 651, and 643 respectively, with Panarin climbing into rarified air at 600-plus.

Gordie Howe’s name came up again in the context of the scoring race, along with the idea that the phrase Gordie Howe hat-trick has also become a staple in hockey lore.

That same night, Russian forward Klim Kostin contributed to a decisive Oilers win against the Arizona Coyotes, 8–2. Kostin started with an assist to Derek Ryan, pressed forward in the third period, and earned a late fight with Zach Cassian, adding a different edge to his team’s victory.