Ovechkin cut Gretzky's lead to 16 pucks

Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin scored his 878th goal in the National Hockey League (NHL) on Tuesday, February 4, cutting to 16 behind Canadian Wayne Gretzky's record of 894.

Ovechkin, who currently serves as a forward and captain of the Washington Capitals, scored another puck during an NHL home game against the Florida Panthers. The goal was scored at the last second of the match, which ended with a score of 6:3 in favor of "Washington", reports "Sport-Express".

Andrew Mangiapane, Tom Wilson, Lars Eller, Nick Dowd and Alexei Protas also scored for the hosts. For Florida, Sam Bennett, Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk scored goals.

This is Ovechkin's 25th goal this season, he is second on the list of the NHL's top snipers, ahead of only Gretzky.

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Earlier, on February 2, Ovechkin scored a puck "Winnipeg Jets" in a home match of the regular NHL championship, reducing the gap between Gretzky to 17 goals. The match was held in Washington and ended with a victory of the guests in overtime with a score of 5:4.

Before that, on January 28, the NHL called the match on April 15, 2025 the game in which the Russian forward and captain of the club "Washington Capitals" Alexander Ovechkin will be able to break Wayne Gretzky's sniper record for goals in the NHL.