On Sunday night, Alex Ovechkin became the 43rd player in NHL history to score 500 career goals. It took Ovechkin 801 games to reach the milestone making him the fifth fastest player to do so. Those who did faster are Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky (575), Mario Lemieux (605), Mike Bossy (647) and Brett Hull (693). He becomes (obviously) the first Russian to score 500 goals and could very well be the only one to reach the plateau.
Ovechkin was mobbed by his entire team at center ice as adoring fans looked on from the Verizon Center crowd. As luck would have it, Sunday marked the eight year anniversary of Ovi’s then record signing 13-year contract. What better way to celebrate by adding another major milestone in what is already a storied career at just the age of 30.
Where Ovi will finish on the all-time goal list is anyone’s guess but something tells us he still has a couple hundred goals left in him. Watching the most exciting player in the past decade celebrate new milestones never gets old and hopefully he will finally reach the only trophy missing from his case come Spring.
