Five minutes and 43 seconds remained in regulation when Alex Ovechkin set up in his office.

The puck came to him on the power play, settled in the left circle, and then — the shot. The one-timer that goaltenders have feared for two decades. Mackenzie Blackwood never had a chance.

The puck was in the net. The crowd at Capital One Arena was on its feet. And Ovechkin, at 40 years old, had just done something only one other human being has ever accomplished in a century of professional hockey.

One thousand goals.

The Company of Two

Ovechkin’s blast against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday made him just the second player in NHL history to reach 1,000 combined regular season and playoff goals. The other name on that list is Wayne Gretzky — who finished his career with 1,016.

“It’s always nice to reach something, and it was an important goal as well,” Ovechkin said after the game. The tally tied the contest 2-2, though the Capitals would eventually fall 3-2 in overtime.

The goal was quintessential Ovechkin: power play, left circle, one-timer. The signature shot that has beaten goaltenders 923 times in the regular season and 77 more in the playoffs. He passed Gretzky’s regular-season record of 894 last season; now he’s closing in on the combined total too.

Gretzky still holds the playoff record with 122 goals, a mark Ovechkin — 12th on that list — won’t catch. But the combined milestone is different. It measures something broader: not just postseason brilliance, but two full decades of showing up and finding the back of the net.

A Career in Context

Drafted first overall in 2004, Ovechkin has spent his entire 21-season career in Washington. He’s won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal-scorer nine times. He brought the Capitals their first Stanley Cup in 2018. And at an age when most scorers have long since faded, he’s still producing — 26 goals and 27 assists in 71 games this season.

“I don’t take a day for granted playing with him,” said Capitals forward Connor McMichael, who grew up idolizing Ovechkin. “Every milestone that goes by, it seems like they just get cooler and cooler.”

Head coach Spencer Carbery admitted he didn’t even realize Ovechkin was approaching 1,000 until recently. “There were a few instances where guys were passing to him in spots where I was like, ‘That seems odd.’ And then I come to find out that he’s going for his 1,000th goal.”

What Comes Next

The milestone arrived with an undercurrent of uncertainty. Ovechkin is in the final year of his contract. The Capitals sit five points out of a playoff spot with 11 games remaining. He has spoken in the past about wanting to finish his career with Dynamo Moscow, his boyhood club.

General manager Chris Patrick said any decision will come on Ovechkin’s timeline — possibly not until the offseason.

If these are his final NHL games, the farewell tour keeps hitting new heights. Ovechkin trails Gretzky’s combined record by just 16 goals. He may not catch it this season. But then, no one thought he’d get this far either.

Gretzky’s 894 was supposed to stand forever. Ovechkin passed it. The thousand-goal club was supposed to have one member. Now it has two.

The Russian sniper from Moscow who fell to Washington with the first pick in 2004 has spent two decades proving that impossible is just a word people use before someone proves them wrong.

Sources