Iconic scenes, legends pay homage as ‘The Great One’s’ untouchable record is finally toppled

The Great Eight is now the greatest goal-scorer.

Alex Ovechkin completed his chase of Wayne Gretzky on Sunday at UBS Arena, scoring his 895th career goal to stand atop hockey’s all-time list, blasting the puck in from the top of his office, the left circle, for a power-play goal at 7:26 of the second period after Casey Cizikas went off for tripping.

Right after the puck hit nylon, Ovechkin went into a swan dive toward center ice, the Capitals and Islanders alike spilled off the benches and a crowd largely made up of Caps fans exploded in adulation.

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The game between the Capitals and Islanders was stopped for a ceremony, with the Capitals getting commemorative hats and Ovechkin saluting the crowd. Up in a suite, Gretzky stood and applauded before making his way to the ice along with Ovechkin’s family, Capitals owner Ted Leonsis and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

“What a day, huh?” Ovechkin said to the UBS crowd.

A video salute to Ovechkin played on the Islanders’ video board, including messages from his wife, two kids and mother.

“895’s pretty special,” Gretzky said during the ceremony.

“They say records are made to be broken, but I’m not sure who’s gonna score more goals than that.”

Commissioner Gary Bettman said during the ceremony: “Wayne you’ll always be the Great One and you had a record that nobody thought would be broken.

“But Alex, you did it. You were amazing.”

Much of Ovechkin’s speech was drowned out by the crowd, and the video that played afterward included congratulations from luminaries including Derek Jeter, Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, Jayden Daniels, Doc Emrick, Buster Posey, Martin Brodeur, Ryan Zimmermann, Katie Ledecky, LeBron James, Michael Phelps, Steve Carrell and Snoop Dogg, among others.

It was Ovechkin’s 45th career goal against the Islanders in 72 games, making them luckier than the Winnipeg Jets and Carolina Hurricanes, against whom No. 8 has scored 57 and 52 times, respectively, but unluckier than most. Among those includes goal No. 691, to pass Mario Lemiux for 10th on the all-time list; goal No. 718, to pass Phil Esposito for 6th; and goal No. 767, to pass Jaromir Jagr for third.

After No. 767, on March 15, 2022, then-Islanders coach and former Capitals coach Barry Trotz would say of Ovechkin that, “The one thing I’ve learned about Ovi over my time is that when you doubt Ovi or you say he can’t do it, he digs in.”

Before Sunday’s game, Patrick Roy, the current Islanders coach, said his team would “raise our hat” to Ovechkin should he break the record on them. Indeed they did

Ilya Sorokin, one of few goalies lucky enough to have faced Ovechkin without allowing a goal, ended up on the wrong side of the highlight. He and Ovechkin are friends, dating back to time spent together on the Russian national team.

“To Ilya Sorokin, sorry,” Ovechkin said during his speech.

After Ovechkin scored twice in Washington to tie the record on Friday, ticket prices shot through the roof at UBS, with the get-in price spanning from US$700 into the thousands. The crowd, clad mostly in red despite the trek from D.C. to Long Island, hummed each time Ovechkin touched the puck, hoping their investment would pay off with history.

With the league throwing its resources into celebrating Ovechkin, it seems clear that the superstar’s popularity has not been dented by his support of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Ovechkin endorsed and campaigned for Putin in a sham 2018 election and his Instagram profile picture is of himself with the dictator, and in 2014 he posted on social media in support of Russia’s invasion of Crimea.

Asked in 2022 whether he supported the country’s invasion of mainland Ukraine, Ovechkin demurred.

“I’m Russian, right? It’s not something I can control,” he said. “It’s not in my hands. I hope it’s going to end soon and there’s going to be peace in both countries. I don’t control this one.”

Nevertheless, this was a Capitals home game on Long Island and a loud celebration of Ovechkin.

And everyone got what they came to see.

This article originally appeared on theNew York Post and was reproduced with permission