Russia’s Ovechkin reaches 750-goal milestone

Alex Ovechkin is showing no signs of slowing down well into his 30s as the Russian all-star notched his 750th National Hockey League career goal to power the Washington Capitals to a 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The 36-year-old veteran reached the milestone at 3:12 of the second period on Saturday by launching a wrist shot from just outside the faceoff circle that beat Columbus goaltender Daniil Tarasov to the far post.

American defenceman John Carlson set up the scoring play by feeding Ovechkin with a pass in the neutral zone that allowed the Russian to carry the puck on an odd-man rush over the Blue Jackets’ blueline.

Ovechkin joins a select group of NHL players, who have scored at least 750 goals, including all-time leader Wayne Gretzky (894). The others are “Mr Hockey” Gordie Howe (801) and Czech star Jaromir Jagr (766).

Aliaksei Protas and Garnet Hathaway also scored for the Capitals, who improved to 4-1-1 in their past six games. Goaltender Ilya Samsonov made 17 saves.

Eric Robinson scored for Columbus, which lost all four games on its road trip. Russia’s Tarasov, making just his second career start, stopped 29 of 31 shots.

Last month, Ovechkin moved into sole possession of fourth place in the all-time goal list in a 4-3 win over the same Blue Jackets. Ovechkin passed former St. Louis Blues sniper Brett Hull on the list with his 742nd career goal.

Ovechkin still has a ways to go to catch Canada’s Gretzky. Ovechkin would have to stay healthy into his 40s and average just over 30 goals over the next five years to catch the “Great One”.