Washington Capitals Honor Alex Ovechkin For Becoming the Second-Highest Goal-Scorer in NHL History

Posted on March 21, 2023 by Michael Fleetwood

NHL

The Washington Capitals honored captain Alex Ovechkin for his historic milestone of becoming the National Hockey League’s second, all-time leading goal scorer, after The Great Eight passed NHL great Gordie Howe earlier this season.

Prior to the game, Ovechkin’s teammates donned No. 8 sweaters for warmups in homage to their captain’s historic achievement.

The Capitals have also erected a “throne” on the Capital One Arena concourse made of custom pucks (802 in total) that will be added to as Ovechkin adds to his goals total and on which fans can pose for pictures.

During the pre-game ceremony attended by his wife Nastya and sons Sergei and Ilya, as well as his mother Tatyana and brother Mikhail, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, Mark Howe (son of Gordie Howe), Capitals Team President Dick Patrick, Capitals majority owner Ted Leonsis, and emceed by Capitals Television Play-by-Play announcer Joe Beninati, Ovechkin was presented with a custom necklace by teammates T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom, and a special trophy by the Logan Sports Group commemorating his becoming the third player in the history of the league to reach the 800-goal plateau.

The Columbus Blue Jackets’ (the Caps’ opponents on the night) Boone Jenner and Capitals forward Tom Wilson presented Ovechkin with the puck that marked Gordie Howe’s first goal of the from the 1974 Summit Series between the USSR and Canadian teams on behalf of the NHL Players’ Association, as well as an autographed stick from that same series. Mark Howe gifted the Caps’ captain a painting featuring Ovechkin alongside Howe.


Tatyana and Nastya were given flowers and Ilya and Sergei received miniature bronze sticks of their own. The team played a video narrated by Backstrom, Ovechkin’s longtime running mate in D.C. as well as tribute videos from his peers around the league.

In the first period of the night’s game, Ovechkin picked up his 40th goal of the season, surpassing Wayne Gretzky for the most 40-goal campaigns in NHL history.

By Michael Fleetwood

About Michael Fleetwood

Michael Fleetwood was born into a family of diehard Capitals fans and has been watching games as long as he can remember. He was born the year the Capitals went to their first Stanley Cup Final, and is a diehard Caps fan, the owner of the very FIRST Joe Beninati jersey and since then, has met Joe himself. Michael joined the NoVa Caps team in 2015, and is most proud of the growth of the NoVa Caps community in that time. An avid photographer, Michael resides in VA.
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