“Washington” held a ceremony to honor Ovechkin, the second top scorer in the NHL.

MOSCOW, March 22 – RIA Novosti. The Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL) held a ceremony for their captain, Russian forward Alexander Ovechkin, who became the second top scorer in league history.

The event took place at the Capital One Arena in the US capital before the NHL regular season game against the Columbus Blue Jackets began. As part of the celebration, Ovechkin was congratulated by Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, NHL assistant commissioner Bill Daly, and Mark Howe, son of Canadian legendary forward Gordie Howe, whose Ovechkin is leading the list of top goalscorers in NHL championship history. The Capitals forward was accompanied by his wife Anastasia, mother Tatiana, sons Sergei and Ilya, and brother Mikhail. The Russian received memorabilia from the Washington, NHL, and League Players Association, including a stick and a large portrait of Ovechkin and Gordie Howe.

Upon his arrival at the Capital One Arena, Ovechkin was greeted by 200 season ticket holders. Russian teammates came to the arena in special T-shirts with the image of a Russian hockey player and went to the pre-match in the eighth game numbered sweaters belonging to the captain of the “capital”.

On December 24, 2022, in a game against the Winnipeg Jets, Ovechkin scored a double, scoring the 802nd goal of his NHL career, moving up to a clean second place in the league. Now the Russian has 819 goals. Wayne Gretzky holds the NHL record with 894 goals.