Alex Ovechkin broke the NHL record for most goalies scored on with an overtime winner against the Ottawa Senators’ Leevi Merilainen on January 16.
After Ovechkin reached the milestone, the Capitals released a list of all 179 goalies and the amount of times he scored on each. Andrew Raycroft, goalie number 37 on Ovechkin’s list, acknowledged his spot on social media by celebrating the fact he only gave up three goals to the legendary winger.
“Look Mom I made it!!!!!!!!!!!” Raycroft tweeted. “Only 3 all-time………….not bad.”
Ovechkin scored all three of his goals against Raycroft when the Belleville, Ontario native was with the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 campaigns. Raycroft had arrived in Toronto via a now infamous trade with the Boston Bruins that sent potential future Hall of Fame goaltender Tuukka Rask the other way.
The first of the three tallies came on November 24, 2006, at the then MCI Center in Washington, DC. With the Capitals on a power play, Mike Green fired a shot that was deflected wide and eventually collected by Richard Zednik. Zednik threw a blind pass to the front of the net, where Ovechkin poked the puck behind Raycroft.
Ovechkin’s goal was the 14th of his sophomore campaign and the 66th of his career.
Ovechkin scored his second career goal on Raycroft a month later, on December 23, 2006, at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Alexander Semin took a relay from goaltender Olie Kolzig behind Washington’s net and went coast-to-coast on a power-play rush. After Raycroft stopped two Semin shots, Ovechkin found the second rebound and potted it past the goaltender’s glove.
Ovechkin’s final goal against Raycroft came in the 11th game of his third season in the league. With the Capitals back at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on October 29, 2007, Ovechkin fired a power-play one-timer from the left point that deflected off of Andy Wozniewski and past Raycroft.
The goal was Ovechkin’s eighth of the season and the 106th of his career.
Raycroft played four more seasons in the NHL after the 2007-08 campaign but solely in the Western Conference after the Maple Leafs bought him out in June 2008. He played against Ovechkin two more times in his career after giving up his last Maple Leafs goal to the big Russian.
He stopped five Ovechkin shots for the Colorado Avalanche in a 4-1 win on February 20, 2009, and stopped another five Ovechkin shots for the Dallas Stars in a 2-1 win on December 2, 2010. Raycroft retired in 2014 after spending two seasons in Europe.
