Photo by Zak Krill/NHLI via Getty Images

In a season full of milestones, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin added to his ever-growing list of career achievements on Wednesday night. Ovechkin scored his 49th goal of the year against the Las Vegas Knights, which is now the most goals scored in a single season by a player 36 years of age or older.

Ovechkin scored the milestone goal at 2:57 of the second period, giving the Capitals a 2-1 lead.

Ovechkin broke a tie with Teemu Selanne for the record, a milestone that Selanne  achieved during the 2005-06 season.

Ovechkin originally tied Selanne against the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night in a game the Capitals won 3-2.

Ovechkin’s goal marks his first ever against goaltender Logan Thompson, the 160th goaltender Ovechkin has scored on in his career. There have been 6,741 skaters in NHL history with 160 or fewer goals scored in their career.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) April 21, 2022

Ovechkin’s goal was also the 779th goal of his career. He now needs just 21 goals to reach the 800 goal mark, 22 more goals to tie Gordie Howe for second place on the all time list, and 23 more to pass Howe.

Wednesday night’s milestone joins other Ovechkin milestones this year, including passing Marcel Dionne (731), Brett Hull  (741), and Jaromir Jagr (766) in career goals, passing Dave Andreychuk in power-play goals, tying Gordie Howe in game-winning goals, tying Gordie Howe in game-opening goals, and moving steadily up the ranks in NHL career points list.

#ALLCAPS Alex Ovechkin (49G/40A) is now a point shy of his first 90-point season in 12 years

— Ben Raby (@BenRaby31) April 21, 2022

Ovechkin reached the 1400 NHL point milestone, passing numerous greats this season. Most recently he passed Jari Kurri (1,398), Luc Robitaille (1,394), and Brett Hull (1,391).

By Diane Doyle