Alex Ovechkin is the NHL goals king, scoring 897 times during his 20-season career in the league. And that total does not even include the hundreds of goals he’s scored combined in the NHL playoffs and internationally, both for Dynamo Moscow and Team Russia.
Sunday, after competing in the “Match of the Year”, an exhibition game pitting Russian NHL stars against the KHL’s best, Ovechkin was asked by Match TV to name his top three favorite career tallies earlier this week.
Ovi’s 895th goal, which broke the NHL goals record, did not make the list.
Goal 1
Russia vs. Canada – 2006 Winter Olympics (February 22, 2006)
“The first was at the 2006 Olympics, when we beat Canada,” Ovechkin said.
Ovechkin started with one of the least talked about, but still massive, goals that he has ever scored. As a 20-year-old at his first-ever Olympic Games for Russia in 2006, the young, boisterous winger scored the game-winning goal for his country in the quarterfinals against Canada.
After making a diving play to keep the puck in the offensive zone while on a power play, Ovechkin drove to the front of the net and finished off a slick feed from future Washington Capitals linemate Viktor Kozlov. The goal was Ovechkin’s third ever against Martin Brodeur after scoring on him twice for the Capitals against the Devils earlier in his rookie 2005-06 campaign.
Russia would win the game 2-0 after Alexei Kovalev added a late third-period tally, knocking the Canadians out of the running for a medal. Unfortunately, those two goals would be their last at the tournament as they were shut out 4-0 by Finland in the semifinals and 3-0 by the Czech Republic in the bronze medal game.
Ovechkin ended the tournament with five goals in eight games.
Goal 2
Capitals vs. Coyotes – “The Goal” (January 16, 2006)
“The second was my rookie season, when I scored a behind-the-back shot against Phoenix,” Ovechkin said.
Ovechkin’s second choice is the goal some might say is the greatest goal ever scored in NHL history, commonly referred to as simply “The Goal.” While falling and twirling around on his back, Ovi sent a “simply sensational” shot past Phoenix Coyotes goaltender Brian Boucher’s outstretched stick 11:54 into the third period of a 6-1 win.
The goal occurred in front of Wayne Gretzky, who was the Coyotes’ head coach at the time. Gretzky could be seen looking up in awe at the replay on Phoenix’s jumbotron. An eight-year-old Auston Matthews was also at Glendale Arena when Ovechkin netted the historic tally.
At the time of scoring, the goal was just Ovechkin’s 32nd career NHL marker. Capitals play-by-play man Joe Beninati remarked on the game’s broadcast that Ovechkin was approximately 860 goals away from Gretzky’s all-time total, jokingly wishing him luck. Ovechkin would go on to break Gretzky’s mark just over 19 years later with Beninati on the call.