The celebration, the Washington Capitals captain stated, was unplanned.
“Ice was unhealthy at this time,” he defined. “I fell.”
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After the enduring second, Ovechkin’s teammates swarmed him. The late-season sport between the Capitals and New York Islanders paused for 25 minutes for an on-ice ceremony. Wayne Gretzky, the legend whom Ovechkin handed, made his approach down; the Corridor of Famer graciously adopted the 39-year-old as he closed in on his file, fulfilling a promise to be the primary particular person to shake Ovechkin’s hand afterward — simply as Gordie Howe, the earlier file holder, had accomplished for Gretzky in 1994.
Because the league arrange carpet on the ice, Ovechkin was centered on hugging every of his teammates. Ovechkin then fixated on discovering his household, together with his mom, spouse and their two younger sons. “With out them, it is mainly, I do not know if I can attain this milestone,” he stated.
All of the whereas, a video tribute performed on the videoboard at UBS Area on Lengthy Island.
These congratulating Ovechkin included a who’s who of sports activities GOATs: Roger Federer, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Sidney Crosby, Derek Jeter, Simone Biles, Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky.
“To be trustworthy with you, I did not see it,” Ovechkin stated. “However the boys informed me that numerous nice individuals, nice athletes assist me and congratulate me. It is big.”
As teammate Tom Wilson stated earlier within the week, the eye on Ovechkin was unparalleled for his or her sport. “To attempt to consider what he is going by, the strain, the whole sport of hockey is on his shoulders proper now. It is greater than hockey,” Wilson stated. “And for him to deal with that, to carry out, to steer the highest staff within the league and nonetheless be such a enjoyable teammate, it is actually outstanding.”
It is what makes Ovechkin, the NHL’s new all-time chief in targets, a real unique — and maybe the final man who will ever maintain the title.
“They are saying data had been meant to be damaged,” Gretzky informed the group. “However I am undecided who’s going to get extra targets than that.”
WHEN GRETZKY ECLIPSED Howe’s mark 31 years in the past, many across the sport believed that was it. No person would surpass The Nice One, whose stat line was so outlandish over a 1,487-game profession, that you would take away his closing objective complete (894) and he’d nonetheless be the league’s all-time chief in factors.
Gretzky, through the years, was identified to say he was certain “anyone, someplace will come alongside and break it.” However few individuals believed it, particularly as the sport developed. The typical targets per NHL sport throughout Gretzky’s profession was 6.93. Since Ovechkin’s rookie season, the NHL common is 5.72. However one thing was all the time completely different about Ovechkin, who was a surefire expertise when the Capitals chosen him No. 1 total in 2004. Ovechkin scored two targets in his first NHL sport and completed with 52 in his rookie season.
The “Alex Ovechkin Impact” in Washington D.C. is simple. Since Ovechkin’s rookie season (2005-06), hockey gamers within the Potomac Valley area have elevated by 71%, in accordance with USA Hockey statistics. To assist meet the rising demand for entry, the Caps have helped construct or refurbish 14 outside inline rinks. Ovechkin used his platform for charity; in March he pledged a greenback quantity equal to his profession objective complete to pediatric most cancers for each objective he scored for the remainder of his profession.
His attain expands effectively previous Caps fandom. Logan Cooley, who was born in Pittsburgh a 12 months earlier than Crosby’s debut, cites Ovechkin as his favourite participant rising up. Patrik Laine grew up in Finland idolizing the Russian winger. Even Minnesota defenseman Brock Faber admits he owned Ovechkin jerseys rising up.
“Ever since I used to be a younger child taking part in hockey,” Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews stated, “he was all the time certainly one of my favourite gamers to look at.”
Maybe essentially the most outstanding a part of Ovechkin closing in on the file was how gamers across the league universally cheered for him. After almost each sport this season, gamers have requested Ovechkin for a stick swap. Ovechkin obliges, largely as a result of he’s a collector himself; it is believed he hopes to open a sports activities museum in Russia post-retirement. Ovechkin lately exchanged sticks with Sharks rookie Macklin Celebrini, who signed for Ovechkin: “Thanks for being a task mannequin.”
Crosby has lengthy been pitted as Ovechkin’s greatest rival; neither has gained a Stanley Cup with out eliminating the opposite. However the Penguins’ captain will get emotional when speaking about Ovechkin.
“That was a file in all probability everyone thought would not be touched,” Crosby stated. “It is superior for the sport of hockey, and I am loving the truth that I am taking part in presently and get to see it firsthand.”
OVECHKIN GOT OFF TO a torrid begin this season, through which the Capitals surprisingly emerged as the highest staff within the league after efficiently present process a retool on the fly. He scored 15 targets by his first 18 video games, earlier than issues got here to a screeching halt simply earlier than Thanksgiving. The Capitals’ captain had already scored twice towards Utah in a Nov. 18 street sport when Utah’s Jack McBain lower by Washington’s zone and bought tangled with Ovechkin, who instantly fell to the ice.
The end result: a damaged left fibula. It was the primary time in Ovechkin’s 20-year profession that he broke a bone.
“When that occurred,” goaltender Charlie Lindgren stated, “everybody was sort of pondering to themselves whether or not or not it was going to be potential.”
However Ovechkin is constructed in another way. As he famously declared after avoiding harm from an errant puck in 2006: “I am OK, Russian machine by no means breaks.”
Inside two days of the harm, Ovechkin rid himself of the strolling boot. (The fibula is not a lot of a weight-bearing bone). Quickly after, he was skating. Ovechkin remained across the staff, getting electrical stimulation to assist with blood circulate, and simply needed to wait out the interval till the bone healed sufficient to maintain contact.
Ovechkin returned simply after Christmas, naturally scoring in every of his first two video games again.
Ovechkin’s unorthodox habits — in an age when many elite athletes view their physique as a temple — have grow to be legendary. Earlier than arriving on the staff airplane for a street journey, Ovechkin all the time stops on the identical Subway the place he orders a spicy Italian footlong and flaming scorching Cheetos. When the Capitals arrive at street arenas, there is a request that the No. 8 water bottles on the bench be crammed with Coke or Pepsi, whichever the sector has a cope with. His dwelling pregame meal is a heavy hen parm and creamy alfredo mixture from a neighborhood joint, Mamma Lucia’s.
Ovechkin will not be the primary or final participant within the gymnasium, and he is considered about how a lot time he spends on the ice.
“At this level in his profession, he is aware of precisely what he must do to get himself prepared,” stated his locker mate Nic Dowd, who defined the 2 preserve reverse hours. “Lots of it’s psychological. And it is arduous to argue towards the outcomes.”
THE PART THAT WAS much less coated? The main points that enable Ovechkin to thrive.
He is a gear nerd. It is not a secret that Ovechkin is an gear free agent proper now. Most gamers have offers with CCM, Bauer, Sherwood or True hockey. Final season, Ovechkin toyed with just a few completely different sticks till he discovered a customized mannequin round All-Star Weekend. Since switching to the brand new stick — which is wrapped in black, with no logos — Ovechkin has scored 64 targets in 96 video games.
Capitals coach Spencer Carbery has made an intentional effort to place Ovechkin in higher positions to thrive. Ovechkin’s ice time was decreased to beneath 18 minutes per sport this season for the primary time in his profession. He lower his 4-on-4 play, has typically swapped from left to proper wing, and will get extra begins within the offensive zone.
“It is about high quality shifts, not amount,” Carbery stated. “And with O, in case you current him the knowledge, in case you clarify here is why we’re doing this and here is the way it will assist you and the staff, he all the time buys in. That is by no means a problem.”
The one nonnegotiable: Ovechkin is not leaving the ice for a two-minute energy play. Ovechkin has been on the ice for 97.3% of the Caps’ power-play time this season. Solely 4 different gamers are within the 80% or extra vary: Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon, Leon Draisaitl and Quinn Hughes.
Ovechkin isn’t resented within the locker room as a result of he’s emphatic about being a superb teammate.
“It actually appears like he will get extra excited, or simply as excited for our targets than his targets,” stated Dylan Strome, who assisted on No. 895. “He is all the time protecting the temper mild, with all of his pregame routines, handshakes with guys within the tunnel, screaming within the locker room. He is very constant like that.”
When rookie Aliaksei Protas was first referred to as up, he wanted to return to the farm membership in Hershey, Pennsylvania, to retrieve some private gadgets on an off day. And he wanted to borrow certainly one of his teammates’ automobiles.
“The massive man come as much as me, and first he’s mad as a result of I requested [Evgeny Kuznetsov] and he stated, ‘Why did not come to me straight?'” Protas recalled. Ovechkin loaned Protas his automotive. “He informed me to maintain it for just a few months,” Protas stated.
Washington signed its high prospect, Ryan Leonard, in the course of the week the objective chase ended forward of a sport in Boston. Ovechkin texted Leonard, the Boston Faculty star who was already on the town, and invited him to a sushi dinner with just a few teammates. After, Leonard informed Ovechkin just a few of his buddies would love to satisfy him and so they knew simply the spot. So the night time earlier than Ovechkin scored No. 891, he was ingesting a beer at Circle Tavern, a school bar in Chestnut Hill.
“In every single place we go recently, it has been rock-star stuff the second he walks right into a room, individuals seize their telephones,” Wilson stated. “And he does not get fazed by it in any respect. He’ll exit strolling in a Canadian metropolis, does not care who acknowledges him. Will cease for followers. Most guys aren’t like that. However that is simply Ovi.”
ON THE DAY he tied Gretzky’s file, there was an aura surrounding Ovechkin. He was smiling, and laughing as he got here off the ice. He was most excited to see his former Stanley Cup-winning teammates, corresponding to Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie and Braden Holtby, who had been being honored later that night time as a part of the Capitals’ fiftieth anniversary celebration.
Backstrom and Ovechkin have all the time been instinctively linked, with the Swedish heart helping on extra of his targets (279) than some other participant. Backstrom (hip) and Oshie (again) haven’t had the identical harm luck as Ovechkin. Each are nonetheless beneath contract however sidelined on long-term injured reserve, in all probability for the rest of their careers. Ovechkin acknowledged each gamers in his on-ice speech.
“There’s not many situations the place somebody has overtly, in a single occasion or one other, sort of thanked me in entrance of the world,” Oshie stated. “So, in that second, I sort of assumed and knew that ‘Backy’ was going to get a shoutout. They go hand in hand and their bond is like no different of two teammates that I’ve seen. However for him to name my title in that second was extremely particular and, truthfully, very emotional for me inside to have him point out and provides me a little bit shoutout in the course of the greatest accomplishment that the world of hockey has seen in a really very long time.”
Now, everybody wonders whether or not there may very well be one other second like this. As for Ovechkin’s private targets, he has been very coy. Although he as soon as famously informed ESPN’s Linda Cohn he’d retire as quickly as he broke Gretzky’s file, that is not a foregone conclusion. Ovechkin is beneath contract for yet another season for $9.5 million. He’d like to win one other Stanley Cup, and this Washington staff has proved succesful.
The subsequent query is: Will anybody come for Ovi’s file? Ought to Ovechkin play subsequent season then retire, ESPN Analysis initiatives he’ll end with 937 profession targets. At his present targets tempo (0.64 per sport), it might take Matthews 848 video games to surpass; that means he is 11 seasons away. For Draisaitl (0.51), the projection is 1,066 video games and 13 seasons. David Pastrnak (0.52) and Connor McDavid (0.51) are every projected to get there in 14 extra seasons.
Maybe, they — or another person — will get there in the future. However for the foreseeable future, that file belongs to Ovechkin.
“That is one thing loopy. I am in all probability going to want a pair extra days. Possibly a pair weeks to understand what it means to be No. 1,” Ovechkin stated Sunday. “All I can say I am very proud. I am very proud for myself. I am actually proud for my household, for all my teammates, that helped me to succeed in that milestone, and for all my coaches. It is big. It is an unbelievable second.”
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