The Washington Capitals were 5-1 winners over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night, with Alex Ovechkin contributing one of the goals. While that has been a common occurrence over the past two decades, this goal is especially meaningful because it pulls Ovechkin to within one goal of a milestone that previously seemed to be unimaginable. Ovechkin’s third-period goal on Friday was the 899th goal of his career, pulling him to within one goal of 900. He was already the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring leader when he scored goal No. 895 late in the 2024-25 season, and every goal he scores for the remainder of his career will just put more and more distance between him and everybody else. But as sports fans, we love round numbers, and 900 goals in the NHL just always seemed like something that was always going to be unreachable for any player. After all, if Wayne Gretzky could not get there playing in the era he played in, who was ever going to do it? Only three players in league history (Ovechkin, Gretzky and G
