Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin has become the 16th player in league history to record 1,500 career points. Ovechkin achieved the feat after registering an assist in Thursday’s 5-4 shootout loss against the Dallas Stars.
Ovechkin earned a secondary assist on Dylan Strome’s third period goal that gave the Capitals a 4-3 lead at the time.
“It’s a pretty cool number,” Ovechkin said following Thursday’s contest. “I always say, without my teammates, I would never reach it. It’s pretty cool.”
“I think he’ll get the puck for that one,” Strome added. “That’s OK. He made a good play to get it up there to ‘Mo’ [Anthony Mantha], and he’s a living legend. So, it’s an honor to play with him and, hopefully, I can start feeding him so he can get some more goals.”
Ovechkin now has 827 goals and 673 assists in 1,370 career regular-season games over his 19-year professional career. The Capitals star ranks first in team history in games played (1,370), goals (827), points (1,500), power-play goals (300) and game-winning goals (124), while ranking second in assists (673) behind teammate Nicklas Backstrom.
After reaching 1,500-point mark, Ovechkin will have his sights set on another record in the near future. Ovechkin currently sits 67 goals behind Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goals record of 894.
Ovechkin and Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby (1,529 points) are the only active players with 1,500 career points. Ovechkin, who has spent his entire career with the team, leads the Capitals with 15 points (five goals and 10 assists) this season.
