Ice Hockey · 2025 · Elmont, USA
Ovechkin Passes the Great One
In his twentieth season with the same franchise, Alex Ovechkin scores his 895th career goal to surpass Wayne Gretzky as the NHL's all-time leading goal-scorer.
895th (new NHL record)
Goal number
6 April 2025
Date
20 (Washington Capitals)
Seasons with one franchise
Wayne Gretzky's career total of 894 goals had stood since his retirement in 1999 as the record widely assumed to be the least breakable in hockey, set across an era and a style of play that seemed unlikely to be repeated. Alex Ovechkin, who had spent his entire career with the Washington Capitals since being drafted first overall in 2004, spent his final NHL seasons closing the gap.
On 6 April 2025, against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena, Ovechkin took a cross-ice pass from longtime teammate Tom Wilson and beat goaltender Ilya Sorokin for goal number 895, diving onto the ice in celebration as the arena, filled with travelling Capitals fans, chanted his nickname. Gretzky himself attended in person to congratulate him afterward.
The record fell in Ovechkin's twentieth NHL season, all of it with the same franchise, a level of longevity as remarkable as the goal total itself. It closed out one of the most anticipated individual chases in recent sports history, tracked goal by goal across an entire season by a league eager to see one of its most enduring records finally change hands.
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