Ovechkin's First Farewell-Season Goal: No. 930, Now Nine From Gretzky's Combined Record
The milestone the farewell tour was waiting for landed Sunday (Oct. 11) at Capital One Arena. Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal of his final NHL season — the 930th of his career — giving the Capitals a first-period lead over Seattle, though they fell 5-3 to the Kraken (Capitals now 3-2-0).
Per NHL.com's Tom Gulitti: "Ovechkin's goal was the 930th of his career in 22 NHL seasons, increasing his League record total. Including his 77 goals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Ovechkin now has 1,007 total goals in the NHL, moving him within nine of Wayne Gretzky (1,016) for the most combined goals in League history."
The goal itself was a first: assisted by the Protas brothers (Aliaksei forced the turnover, 20-year-old Ilya fed Ovi in front) — "the first time Ovechkin scored a goal assisted by brothers" — and Joey Daccord became the League-record 190th different goalie he has scored against. It came in his fifth game after a lower-body training-camp injury wiped out his preseason.
"Anytime he gets on the board is a good thing," Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. "We know when he gains confidence and pucks start to go in for him, that's a good thing, and it can snowball... he's done an amazing job in his career of turning one goal into like a good 10-, 12-, 15-game stretch."
Ovechkin, who announced Oct. 5 that 2026-27 is his last season: "the training camp didn't go right way that I wanted it to be. But through the games you're going to find your touches, you're going to find the game rhythm. I think the last two games, we had nice chances to score, and we did."