Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins to Capital One Arena on Friday night. According to his career splits on Hockey Reference, tonight will be his 77th game against the Penguins.
After 12 games this season, The Great 8 has eight goals and 16 points, bringing his career totals to 861 goals. He is now 33 lamplighters shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894.
As one of the greatest goal scorers in hockey history, Ovechkin has had success against Pittsburgh in the regular season and playoffs. Let’s sort through the statistics to see how he’s performed against his long-time division rivals.
356 – Ovechkin has recorded the most shots in NHL history, with 6,667 heading into Friday night. He’s collected 359 against the Penguins, which ranks fourth among all his opponents behind Carolina, Tampa Bay, and Winnipeg.
76 – Ovechkin has played 76 games against the Penguins in his career. After Friday night, Pittsburgh will jump ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers for the fourth-most games against a single opponent.
75 – Washington’s captain has a 0.98 points-per-game average against the Penguins, with 75 career points in 76 games.
42 – On his quest for 894 career goals, The Great 8 has lit the lamp 42 times against the Penguins, which ranks 10th all-time against any opponent.
25 – It doesn’t matter whether he’s at home or on the road; Ovechkin loves to score, especially in Pittsburgh. Out of 42 goals against the Penguins, 25 have come in the Steel City: Mellon Arena (10), CONSOL Energy Center (seven), and PPG Paints Arena (eight)
22 – As the NHL’s all-time leader in power-play goals (313), 22 have come against Pittsburgh, with one shorthanded goal (2006) and 19 even-strength tallies.
21 – While Marc-Andre Fleury was a member of the Penguins, he surrendered 21 goals to Ovechkin, the most by any goalie in franchise history.
Related: Sidney Crosby Career Goal Tracker: How Close Is The Penguins Captain To 600 Goals
9 – Despite the frequent meetings, Ovechkin has only scored a goal against nine Penguins’ goalies and has yet to hit double digits against any of them besides Fleury.
8 – As one of the most dynamic goal scorers of all time, it’s unsurprisingly to learn that Ovechkin has collected eight multi-goal games against the Penguins, with his first one occurring in 2008 and his most recent one in 2018.
3 – Ovechkin has scored 130 game-winners in his career, just three against Pittsburgh and the same totals against St. Louis, Anaheim, Colorado, and Montreal.
2—During his career, Ovechkin scored 58 empty-net goals, with just two against the Penguins, both coming in the 2010 season.
1 – Most hockey fans will remember the 2009 playoff second-round series between the Penguins and Capitals, especially the night Sidney Crosby and Ovechkin tallied hat tricks against one another in Game 3. As of 2024, it remains Ovechkin’s only career playoff hat trick.
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