Washington –
Alex Ovechkin became only the third NHL player with 800 goals to bring him close to the next big step in hockey history.
Ovechkin is just two goals away from overtaking Gordie Howe for second place on the career list. “Mr. Hockey” is the only player between Ovechkin and Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894 that has long seemed insurmountable. The longtime Washington Capitals captain is still on track to challenge “The Great.”
Mark Howe told Ovechkin exactly that when they sat down together last week.
“I said, ‘I know you’re going to pass Gordie, congratulations, but you have to aim for 99,'” Howe recalled Wednesday, referring to Gretzky’s perennial sweater number. “Because once you start getting close and once you see that it’s within reach, it becomes a huge motivating factor.”
But first, the 801 and 802, which Ovechkin could score on Thursday night at home against the Dallas Stars. The Capitals also host the Toronto Maple Leafs — during “Hockey Night in Canada,” no less — on Saturday and Gordie’s longtime former team, the Detroit Red Wings, on Monday night.
“Let’s take it one step at a time,” Ovechkin said Tuesday night in Chicago after hitting 800 goals with a hat trick that earned him standing ovation. “It’s a big number. It’s the best company you can imagine since you start playing hockey, with Gordie (and Wayne) — 800, I’m the third person to ever score the most. such a goal.”
Mark Howe, Gordie’s youngest son and himself a Hockey Hall of Fame defender and longtime scout, remembers Gretzky asking his father to join him in his approach to the old record last month. 3 in 1994 and knew that his parents would fully support Ovechkin if they were still alive. It was another message to Ovechkin, whom Howe tried to talk to in person instead of just recording congratulatory video messages.
“I said, ‘If Gordie and (his wife) Colleen were here, they would support you 100%,’ and there’s no doubt about it,” Howe said. “I said: ‘The Howe family, we’re supporting you. We’re supporting you.”‘
Gretzky is openly backing Ovechkin to break his record, which the 37-year-old best-scorer of the generation will have to score another 95 goals and create a record that a player of his age has yet to achieve. have seen. Ovechkin has three years left on the contract he signed in 2021 with an eye on Gretzky’s mark. At his pace this season, he’ll go past 50 goals and well ahead of the record 60 goals or more.
Another 50-goal season would be Ovechkin’s 10th, surpassing Gretzky in that division. Mark Howe is not betting against Ovechkin getting 895.
“It’s his health and it’s his passion for the game,” Howe said. “As long as he has passion and he goes out fighting, playing, he will score his share of the goals. And whether it takes two years, three years, four years – whatever the time is. how much – but as long as he still has a love and passion for the game, yes, then that record will be broken.”
In addition to the NHL, Howe also has 174 goals in the regular season at the World Hockey Association, the professional league in which Gretzky participated and scored 46 goals over two years. Ovechkin also scored 55 goals in the Russian Football Championship/Kontinental Hockey League.
Howe’s mark, which lasted for 14 years since he retired in 1980 at the age of 52, is another stepping stone for Ovechkin, who has surpassed Phil Esposito, Marcel Dionne, Brett Hull and Jaromir Jagr to advance to the position. Tuesday. Ovechkin already owns records for the most goals scored on the road and power play as well as the franchise.
After another celebration of Ovechkin’s milestone in the dressing room, Capitals coach Peter Laviolette commented: “Every night has something.” And much of that is because Ovechkin has placed himself on the list of the best in the sport of putting the ball in the net.
“That’s what great scorers do,” Laviolette said. “They know where to go. I think they know where to go. I think they know where the ball is going. I think they have a knack for getting the ball out of their bat. I think they’re very detailed in their work. the actual shooting. You can’t get there by luck, that’s for sure.”
Mark Howe knows that and believes his father will appreciate Ovechkin, like his peers during Gordie’s peak more than half a century ago. It’s a bit different in that Gretzky idolized Howe before Ovechkin was born, but Mark was impressed by what the Russian winger superstar had to say in a joint interview.
“Alex, he said, ‘Well, yeah, his name is ‘Mr. Hockey,’ he must mean something,” Howe said. “Dad mostly earned his stripes from the ’50s and ’60s, but I think his name still resonates in hockey.”
Ovechkin will be long after overtaking Howe and making his best shot at Gretzky.
