Why Alex Ovechkin still has a long ways to go to catch Gordie Howe’s g…
No. 9 is now No. 3.
Or, well, he will be. Soon enough — possibly Monday night when the Detroit Red Wings visit the Washington Capitals — Alex Ovechkin will score for the 801st and 802nd time and pass Gordie Howe for No. 2 on the NHL’s all-time goals list.
Ovechkin already moved Mr. Hockey down one big list earlier this season; his second-period goal Nov. 5 against the Arizona Coyotes was No. 787 in his 18-season tenure with the Caps, one more than Howe scored in his 25 seasons with the Wings, to set the NHL’s record for goals with a single franchise.
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Now he’s coming after Howe for No. 2 in career goals, and, of course, Wayne Gretzky at No. 1, eventually. (We’ve got a couple of years before Ovi catches The Great One — at least, we think we do.)
But before Ovechkin fully rewrites the record book, let’s take a look at how he doesn’t quite match up with the NHL’s greatest scorers. (At least, not yet….)
One goal to rule them all
Before we get there, we’ve gotta go over the NHL’s career scoring leaders through the years, all the way past the Original Six years and to, uh, the “In-Between Eight” years — back when the NHL had the Original Six we know and (mostly) love, plus second franchises in Montreal (the Maroons) and New York (the Americans). (Don’t worry — there have only been four leaders over the past 85 years.)
On Feb. 16, 1937, Nels Stewart, playing for those Americans, scored career goal No. 272 in the second period against the Canadiens to pass the Habs’ Howie Morenz for No. 1 on the NHL’s list, which, to be fair, was only about 20 years old at the time. Stewart added 52 more goals over three more seasons to finish with 324 goals — the final score coming March 16, 1940, more than two…
