Alex Ovechkin scored for the Washington Capitals against the Philadelphia Flyers at Capital One Arena on Saturday, level with Mike Gartner, who has the most 30-goal seasons in NHL history at 17.
The 37-year-old left winger scored his 30th goal, rebounding with a backhand to equalize 1-1 after 17:56 of the first period.
Ovechkin has scored at least 30 goals in all but one of his 18 NHL seasons. He scored 24 goals in 45 games in the 2020/21 season, when the league only played 56 games due to the coronavirus pandemic. Gartner, who played in his first 10 NHL seasons with the Capitals and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001, had at least 30 goals in 17 of his 19 seasons before retiring in 1998.
Video: PHI@WSH: Ovi matches Gartner with 17 30-goal seasons
Although Ovechkin (2005/06 to 2019/20) and Gartner (1979/80 to 1993/94) share the NHL record of 15 consecutive 30-goal seasons with Jaromir Jagr (1991/92 to 2006/07), they are the only players to score at least 30 goals in each of their first 15 seasons.
Similar to Ovechkin, Gartner’s streak ended when he scored 12 goals in 38 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs during the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season. He scored 35 goals for Toronto in the 1995-96 season and 32 for the Phoenix Coyotes in the 1996-97 season.
Ovechkin, who has ten goals in his last ten games, has scored 30 goals in 45 games this season and is on track to finish the season with 54 goals. That would be the most since he netted 56 goals in the 2008/09 season.
Should he reach that mark, Ovechkin would also overtake Wayne Gretzky, who has the most 40-goal seasons in NHL history at 13, and Gretzky and Mike Bossy, who have the most 50-goal seasons at ten.
Ovechkin, who was drafted No. 1 by Washington in the 2004 NHL Draft, is the second-highest goalscorer in league history after Gretzky (894) with 810 goals in 1,319 games. Ovechkin had overtaken second-placed Gordie Howe with his 802nd goal on December 23 against the Winnipeg Jets.
