Young Ovechkin was a thing to behold. Big hits, big passion, high octane energy hockey. He reinvigorated my passion for the sport in ‘05-06.

Ovi is and has always been an absolute monster

Ovi needs to score 1000. It would be so amazing to reach that number… and I think it’s safe to say, nobody would ever beat it. He’s still extremely durable and still has that great one-timer, as well as competitiveness. I can’t see why he wouldn’t want to do it.

I was there when OV scored from his pants against The Canadians. And that was after that pass off the boards to himself during his spin-o-rama. At that point I had watched 1,000 Hockey Games. At first I didn’t even cheer because I was so stunned and couldn’t believe that the puck was actually in the net. It was truly breathtaking.

Mathew's said it, "you can't replicate that even if you tried". That's what makes this the most amazing goal I've ever seen

"Nearly 800 goals." Ovi: "Hold my beer."

Ovi is the best power forward in history no contest. Love to see him play, even as an opponent.

what was amazing was he replicated it showing how he did it lol

The Goal epitomizes the way Ovi plays the game: simple but deadly

Buddy of mine is a goalie coach. He was telling me a story of a guy he used to coach with, this guy played against ovi at the world juniors, and was telling my buddy that ovi hits like a cement truck. This guy got hit by ovi behind the net and hit him so hard he got injured and had to retire. Russian machine never breaks

hes the best goal scorer ever glad he is in my city. he also missed a season to the lock out and the covid year.

If Ovi played in Gretzky's era he would have 1200 goals.

More ESPN NHL! Ovi is the GOAT ❤️❤️❤️

The average league performance after 2005 (when Ovi joined the NHL) is significantly lower than in the 1980s and early 1990s. In the 80s, the performance per match ranged from 7 to 8 goals, and the most “fun” season was the 1981/82 championship - 8.03 goals (it was in that year that Gretzky set an all-time record - 92 goals in the regular season). In the first half of the 90s, the performance in the NHL was slowly declining (with the exception of the 1992/93 championship), and in the 1996/97 season there was a sharp decrease in this indicator - to 5.83 goals per game. In the 2003/04 regular season, the performance dropped to a terrible 5.14 goals. This may be due to increased competition in the NHL. After the collapse of the USSR, many hockey players who played in the countries of the Warsaw Pact moved to play in the NHL. The best players on the planet are playing in North America right now. During the Gretzky era, there were almost no Europeans in the NHL. In the 1983/84 season. Only 50 foreigners played in the NHL. Ovi came into the league during the "dead puck era," playing against bigger, faster goaltenders who are equipped to look like they're working as fighting dog training dummies. The defenders have also become very large. Gretzky scored half of his goals on some skinny, dangling fools who jumped 5 meters out of the “frame”, trying to cut the corner, and then fell onto the ice. In the 1988-1989 season. in the regular season of the NHL, 1 field player from the countries of the former USSR played, after the collapse of the USSR in the 1991-1992 season. 24 field players played in the 1993-1994 season. - 63, and in 2003/04. - 71. As can be seen from the figures, the higher the field players from the countries of the former USSR played, the lower the performance in the NHL. The performance is correlated with the number of players playing in the NHL from the countries of the former USSR. From 1975 to 1991, the clubs of the USSR played 108 matches with the teams of the National Hockey League. During this time, the clubs of the USSR won 58 victories, 10 matches ended in a draw and lost 40 times to the representatives of the NHL. In 1990/91 USSR clubs won 17 times against NHL clubs, lost 8 times and drew 3 times. This indicates the high competitiveness of Soviet hockey players. For example, the results of the teams in which Gretzky played at that time against the teams of the USSR: 01/04/1980 Edmonton Oilers - Dynamo (Moscow) - 1: 4 12/27/1985 Edmonton Oilers - CSKA - 3: 6 12/31/1988 Los Angeles Kings - Dynamo (Riga) - 3:5 12/04/1989 Los Angeles Kings - Khimik (Voskresensk) - 3:6 12/03/1990 Los Angeles Kings - Khimik (Voskresensk) - 5: 1 Also, the symbolic team of the 20th century included 4 players who played in the USSR championships and 2 players who played in the NHL. The six members of the symbolic team were chosen by voting organized by the IIHF. The selection committee included 56 hockey experts from 16 countries in Europe and North America. Symbolic team of the century: Goalkeeper: Vladislav Tretiak (USSR) - 30 votes. Defender: Vyacheslav Fetisov (USSR) - 54 votes. Defender: Börje Salming (Sweden) - 17 votes. Wing: Valery Kharlamov (USSR) - 21 votes. Wing: Sergei Makarov (USSR) - 18 votes. Center forward: Wayne Gretzky (Canada) - 38 votes Ovechkin played in the NHL with more competition than Gretzky. But you can compare the results of these players, at the time when the Soviet players started playing in the NHL. Gretzky played 373 games in the NHL from 1993 to 1998 and scored 120 goals (averaging 0.32 goals per game) at the age of 32-36. Ovechkin, aged 32-36 (from 2017 to 2022), played 353 games in the NHL and scored 222 goals (an average of 0.63 goals per game). Gretzky played 721 NHL games and scored 302 goals from 1988 to 1998 (averaging 0.42 goals per game) at the age of 27-36. Ovechkin, aged 27-36 (from 2012 to 2022), played 721 games in the NHL and scored 441 goals (an average of 0.61 goals per game). During these periods, Ovechkin won against Gretzky in the number of goals scored. In addition, rules contributed to increased performance in the 1980s. Goalkeepers wore narrow shin guards, less sturdy helmets, and play skates, rather than goalie skates, as they are now. Video replays in the league were introduced only in 1991, when Gretzky had already crossed the equator of his career and stopped scoring goals with automatic bursts. In 1993, they changed the rules for playing with a high stick - it was forbidden to lift it above the crossbar, and before that it was allowed to swing up to the shoulder. In 1996, when Gretzky was three years away from retiring from the sport, a trapezoid was introduced - they outlined a section of ice on which the field was forbidden to contact the goalkeepers. Ovechkin also won against Gretzky in the number of seasons in which they became the best scorers. Number of seasons in which the player became the best scorer: 1. Alexander Ovechkin - 9 seasons 2. Bobby Hull - 7 seasons 3. Phil Esposito - 6 seasons 4. Wayne Gretzky - 5 seasons 5. Gordie Howe - 5 seasons 6. Maurice Richard - 5 seasons 7. Charlie Conacher - 5 seasons 8. Pavel Bure - 3 seasons 9. Teemu Selanne - Season 3 10. Mario Lemieux - 3 seasons 11. Brett Hull - 3 seasons 12. Bill Cook - 3 seasons 13. Babe Dy - 3 seasons Wayne Gretzky never became the best sniper after 1991, that is, when, after the collapse of the USSR and the Department of Internal Affairs, European players poured into the NHL, and competition increased in the NHL itself! And his performance has dropped significantly.

35 years Capitals fan here. What Ovi represented in his rookie season was Hope. I had never seen anyone that fast who checked that hard and had so much skill. I don't care how many times I see The Goal. I am just in awe. Analyze The Goal all you want, it can't be fully explained or explained.

Happy to say I watched that goal live as a 10 year old and my mind was blown lol

IMO yes it is the best of all time. Just unfathomable how he pulled that off

More NHL!!!!!!

Wild asf never thought we'd see it but we will

The GOAL❤GR8~800

When it was no longer possible, Ovechkin still finds a way

WHAT!? He just nonchalantly shows how he scored in one take no cuts perfect angle and everything!? Oh my goodness that’s ridiculous!

Loved it great video

No one’s talking about the fact that he gets on his feet perfectly no room for mistakes on any of that

Great 8

The routine goals he gets are kinda crazy too. Like everybody in the arena knows he's getting the puck but then he does some jedi mind trick, his defender forgets about him and he's open for a goal.

I remember watching the highlights of that goal and knew he was going to be in the upper echelon of Hall of Famer’s

When I was growing up, we played soccer and hockey... we always would try to repeat the greatest and most iconic goals from soccer and hockey... we usually would be able to do a somewhat okay job after a few attempts... there is no way we would be able to recreate that goal.

I still say that his best play was THAT PASS to Kuzy.

The actual clip is at 4:15 if you have a short attention span

I challenge anyone to tell me they're not a fan of Ovi. Because if you do not like Ovi, you just don't like hockey. He is so entertaining even when my team is going up against him I cant help but root for him a little bit.

No doubt the best goal of all time. You’ll never see anything like that again.

i think the second falling down goal is more impressive, because he beats the goaltender from the ice, the first one the goalie is so far out of position all he had to do was sweep it in the general direction of the net

keep in mind hes doing all of this on a team that was bad/mid for most of his career and the goals against avg is around 3 lower than when gretzky played

King

Hes the great 8 for a reason!!!👏👏

His goal against the habs when he banked it off the boards behind his back in my opinion is the best he’s ever scored.

Who wants an MSG Hockey Show Reunion with Arda Ocal and Will Reeve?

Hands down the greatest goal of all time. Sorry Bobby Orr fans...

@6:39 I practice this move all the time!!!!

OMG!!!

The number of 99, 97 and 87 fans crying the comments is funny af.

Definitely up there. To me jagr did it better against the flyers. Sliding on his stomach, elevating the puck in the air then batting it out of the air over the shoulder. All from his stomach. That one slips under the radar.

Gretz had to be thinking....ok got me beat there.

Top5 greatest NHL goals ever,.maybe Top3

Nowhere near enough credit for "The other laying down goal." The video completely ignored that he 2 line passed it perfectly to himself OFF THE BOARDS while having to spin-o-rama out of visual contact with the puck around a defender, which is as good if not better as the scoring laying down part.

I Don't think Alexander Ovechkin should be chasing Wayne Gretzky's, they both played in two different styles of hockey, I think Gretzky would have double his points had hockey been like this in the 1980s and 1990s.

I often wonder if he meant to do this or he just got lucky when he went down & pushed it all in one motion

Seems fitting that the greatest goal scorer also has the greatest goal highlight

Ove is the greatest player of all time. I’m a Canadian and say this with no reservation.

4:22 to get to the goal. Talk about stretching.

Bobby Orr from Sanderson

Skip to 3:54 for the goal.

And as you describe it you fall on the grammatical ice and LAY a grammatical egg.

As incredible as this goal was, pushing a puck in a basically empty net will never be the greatest goal ever, let alone Ovi's best.

The goal did not defy physics. Nothing defies physics. Physics is literally what determines how anything ever happens

5:46 FO Mathews

These sorts of goals are not that uncommon, it looks really sweet when it happens but it's really not as impressive as it looks... he simply hit the puck towards the net while while sliding on the ground. I've literally done this sort of thing in this exact sort of situation at least 3 times and seen others do it many times.

No, not even close. Bobby Orr scoring and Soaring to win the cup.

That goal would more go in the crazy flukie goal category because it was off an odd looking broken play. The best of Mcdavid and Mario are far better than that.

Ovi is the greatest ever and its not even up for debate!

There are 3 things I find hilarious about this clip: 1 - You can clearly see both skates of another Washington player in the crease before the puck enters the crease. It didn't cause any goalie interference but its crystal clear from the video he was in the crease first. 2 - This was only a goal because the goalie was terrible... look at him scrambling around like an idiot when literally all he had to do was maintain the basic goalie stance with his stick flat on the ice...

but its not. datzyuk has atleast a dozen alone. jagrs getting his own rebound in the air while sliding goal? gretzkys baseball shot off robitailles back from 25 ft out that went top corner. i can easly think of dozens that are better.

Yes one of the best goal scores of all time NOT the best Gretzky,bossy,Lemieux,are better scores not even close,another player comes to mind Datsyuk.

I've always said Bobby Ryan's goal against Nashville was the best goal I've ever seen. Until Blake Coleman's goal against Winnipeg. Either way, both are better than Ovi's falling down goal

Right in front of Gretzky.

lol might

Defied physics. come On man. Yes it was a lucky shot, but didn't defy physics. If it defied physics, Ovechkin would have hit the opposite way and some how ended up in the goal.

Ovechkin will always be known as a selfish player, aside from one fluke year, it never amounted to team success. In the same era, Crosby is miles ahead. Ovechkin has a history of completely disappearing when the games mean something....World Juniors he basically ran out of the building crying, disappeared in the Olympics, Stanley Cup playoffs, etc.

4:59 "with one hand on his stick" as he scores a goal with two hands on his stick.

Lol delusional

This goal is cool but it’s not even his best haha definitely not the best of all time

lets be real gretzky would probably not hav ethat much goal if he was playing in todays time. he would be a good player but probably not even top 10

Ovi has the greatest release of all time but McDavid’s hi-light reel is already miles longer with 1/3 the number of goals and there are many other players with better reels then Ovi. The goal in this video was a tremendous extra effort but more of a fluke than anything

lol cherry picker of all time

This is dumb luck. Crosby has a 1 handed backhand shot that he flip up over the goalies shoulder in stride as he splits 2 defenders. THAT is a shot you couldnt replicate even if you tried.

Bobby Orr did it first

If anyone wants to skip all of the talking, the goal starts at 4:12.

Disagree the great 99 has done way better.

WILD GOAL. but thats the goalies fault, hes waay outta position for no reason becuz his dman had Ovi cut off already. if the goalie just stays home he gets a easy save

Should be banned