[ Source: Reuters ]

Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin scored his 895th career NHL goal on Sunday to break the hallowed all-time record of Wayne Gretzky that was once considered unbeatable.

Ovechkin’s landmark moment came in the second period of the Capitals’ road game against the New York Islanders when the 39-year-old Russian fired home from distance as wild cheers reverberated around UBS Arena.

Ovechkin dived on to the ice in celebration as his teammates jumped off the bench and swarmed over him in scenes of utter joy as Hall of Famer Gretzky smiled broadly in the crowd and joined the standing ovation.

“Like I always say, all the time, it’s a team sport and without my boys, the whole organization, the fans,” Ovechkin said. “I would never pass ‘the Great One’ (Gretzky).”

The goal marked the latest feat in a glittering career that will inevitably usher Ovechkin into Hockey’s Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, and the game was halted for several minutes as the league honored his achievement.

“895 is pretty special,” Gretzky said. “They say records are made to be broken but I’m not sure if anyone’s going to get more goals than that.”
Advertisement · Scroll to continue

A sea of Capitals red overwhelmed the stands in Elmont as fans traveled to chilly and wet Long Island hoping to witness history.

They began cheering “Ovi! Ovi!” the moment their captain’s foot touched the ice and kept their faith alive as the home team made a fast start with two first-period goals.

There were gasps as Ovechkin took a shot that ricocheted off Islanders’ goaltender Ilya Sorokin’s stick less than three minutes into the second period.

Throughout his career, Ovechkin has enjoyed success from his signature spot by the left face-off circle on the power-play and he used that winning formula again to claim his record goal.

Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.