“We want 50!”

That’s what fans in Washington were chanting Tuesday night as the Capitals used Alex Ovechkin’s 49th goal of the season to help beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 and extend their Metropolitan Division lead. 

“Next game,” Ovechkin said when asked about the chant. If he delivers, it will make history.

With about a week and a half left in the season, the Capitals’ sniper leads the league in goals, sitting three ahead of Leon Draisaitl’s 46 and four ahead of John Tavares after his four-goal effort earlier this week. Ovechkin hasn’t locked up the Rocket Richard Trophy just yet, but he’s getting close.

Ovechkin is currently tied with Bobby Hull for the most times leading the NHL in goals with seven. Phil Esposito has six, while Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Maurice Richard and Charlie Conacher all have five. So as the NHL’s regular season gets closer to its conclusion, Ovechkin gets closer to history.

 

Leading NHL Goal Scorers

Player Times Leading League Career high Career goals
Alex Ovechkin 7 65 (2007-08) 656
Bobby Hull 7 77 (1974-75) 610
Phil Esposito 6 76 (1970-71) 459
Wayne Gretzky 5 92 (1981-82) 894
Gordie Howe 5 49 (1952-53) 801
Maurice Richard 5 50 (1944-45) 544
Charlie Conacher 5 36 (1934-35) 224

He’s no stranger to cracking 50 goals. Ovechkin has reached the mark in a season seven times. He sits third all-time in career 50-goal seasons behind Mike Bossy and Gretzky, who both had nine. That doesn’t include Ovechkin’s 49 goals last season and 32 in the 48-game lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. That’s a goals-per-game rate of 0.66, well above his career rate of 0.61. In other words – he should have had no trouble reaching 50 that season either.

Since Evgeni Malkin scored 50 on the dot in 2011-12, there have been only three 50-goal campaigns in the NHL. All three belong to Ovechkin, who did it in consecutive seasons from 2013 to 2016.

Ovechkin is in a class of his own by today’s standards. Since entering the NHL in 2005, his 656 goals are 212 more than Sidney Crosby’s distant second-place total of 444. But so many of today’s top goal scorers haven’t been in the league that long, so it’s not a fair comparison, right? Wrong.

Over the past five seasons Ovechkin’s 234 goals dwarf Tavares, who is second with 181. Over the past three? Ovechkin again, edging countryman Nikita Kucherov by a tally of 131 to 117.

It’s not just scoring. After being held under 30 assists five straight seasons from 2011-12 to 2015-16, he tallied 36 and 38 in his previous two. This year? Thirty-seven and counting.

In an era of relatively low goal scoring compared to previous time periods, Ovechkin has risen to 14th on the league’s all-time list. He needs only 110 goals to catch Jaromir Jagr – whose NHL days finally seem to be over – for third place and is 145 shy of Howe in second.

After that, it’s just Gretzky at the top with 894. He’ll have his work cut out for him, but it’s possible. Without any signs of slowing down, almost anything is. 

Ovechkin will get his crack at 50 Thursday night against the same Hurricanes he picked up No. 49 against just two days earlier.