The Washington Capitals fell to the New York Islanders 4-1 on Sunday afternoon. Alex Ovechkin scored the lone Caps goal and it proved to be quite historic not just in hockey but in all of sports.
Alex Ovechkin gets career goal number 895
Bo Horvat put the Islanders up 1-0 at 7:06 in the opening period. Marc Gatcomb doubled the lead at the nine minute mark. Caps saw themselves down 2-0 despite outshooting the Islanders 8-5.
Alex Ovechkin got the Caps on the board on the power play with his 42nd goal of the season and 895th of his career to surpass Wayne Gretzky for number one on the NHL's all-time goals scored list.
That came at 7:26 in the second period. Tom Wilson had the primary for his 30th assist while Dylan Strome had the secondary for his 51st.
After that the Islanders took over. Gatcomb got his second goal of the day at 10:26. 3-1 was the score after two with the Caps outhsooting the Isles 9-8 in the middle frame.
In the third the Caps outshot the Islanders 12-9 and outshot them 29-22 overall but it wasn't enough. At 4:20 in the third Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored to put the game away.
Ovechkin said on the ice when the game was stopped after he scored, "What a day, huh? Like I always said, all the time, it's a team sport and without my boys, the whole organization, the fans, the trainers, coaches, I would never be standing here, and obviously I would never be standing here, and obviously I would never pass the 'Great One.' So, fellas, thank you very much."
Ilya Sorokin was the victim goalie who would surrender 895 and be on highlight reels for the next several hundred years. But he did pick up the win in net so there's that while Charlie Lindgren had the loss for Washington.
Next up for the Caps is a home game on Thursday night against the Carolina Hurricanes at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN plus, Hulu and Disney plus.