Washington Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin reached 700 career assists on Tuesday, recording two in a 4-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights at Capital One Arena.
The Russian is the 60th player in history to reach the milestone, and only the sixth to have also scored at least 700 goals. He joins Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Jaromir Jagr, Phil Esposito and Marcel Dionne as the only players with 700-plus in each statistic.
The 39-year-old was relatively relaxed about the milestone. “When you play 20 years in hockey, I’m pretty sure you’ll get the same number,” he said afterwards according to NHL.com.
“Yeah, it’s pretty big number. Nice to be in that company. So, yeah, move forward.”
Ovechkin remains in the hunt for Gretzky’s all-time goals record of 894. He is currently 41 behind the “Great One” meaning that an average season in scoring terms for the Russian would see him take the top spot by the end of the 2024-25 campaign.
Jakub Vrana opened the scoring for the Caps on Tuesday with his first shot since returning to the franchise where he won the Stanley Cup in 2018, beating the Knights in the final.
Victor Olofsson tied the score 1-1 at 17:49, but Tom Wilson got his second goal in two games off a secondary assist from Ovechkin at 3:06 of the second period to restore Washington’s lead.
At 5:16, Ovechkin picked up his second apple, passing for Aliaksei Protas to score from the slot, before Jakob Chychrun made it 4-1 at 6:13.
Jack Eichel pulled one back for the Knights at 7:17, but Logan Thompson, making his Capitals debut having been acquired from the Knights in late June, impressed between the pipes, making 24 saves.
Having won its opening three at home, Vegas’ first game on the road ended in defeat.
Meanwhile, it was a first win of the season for the Caps, who lost their opening game against the New Jersey Devils. They are back in action on Friday, when they welcome the Dallas Stars to Washington.