Washington: Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin scored his National Hockey League-leading 50th goal of the season Tuesday in a 4-2 home victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Russian superstar reached the 50-goal milestone for the sixth season in his 10-campaign NHL career.
Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy own the NHL record with nine 50-goal seasons, but Ovechkin matched Guy Lafleur, Marcel Dionne and Mario Lemieux for third on the list.
“Every year, it’s harder and harder,” Ovechkin said. “But it’s a huge accomplishment with those names up there. It’s always nice. But every year, you don’t know what to expect from yourself, how you are going to play.”
Ovechkin’s 50th goal of the season, which came 11:12 into the first period and gave the Capitals a 2-0 lead, was his 472nd career goal, tying Petr Bondra for the Capitals’ all-time lead.
Ovechkin scored 52 goals as a rookie in the 2005-06 season and enjoyed his NHL-best 65-goal campaign in 2007-08 followed by 56 goals in 2008-09 and 50 in 2009-10.
After four seasons with no more than 38 goals, Ovechkin netted 51 goals in the 2013-14 campaign to set the stage for his latest success, which came at age 29.
Ovechkin has never won the Stanley Cup with Washington or a Winter Olympic gold medal with Russia, but has won four NHL goalscoring titles and is on pace to capture his fifth this year, what would be his third goals crown in a row.
The nearest rivals to Ovechkin this season, Rick Nash of the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos, each have 40 goals with the campaign set to close next week.
