Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals is closing in on the National Hockey League goals record held by Wayne Gretzky.

Ovechkin has 884 goals and needs 10 to tie and 11 to break the 894 record.

Ovechkin entered the season 42 short of breaking the regular-season record by "The Great One" that had long seemed unapproachable. The 39-year-old Russian is in his 20th NHL season and was on pace to get to 895 in February before breaking his left leg in a shin-on-shin collision in November. He missed 16 games but resumed his pursuit at Toronto in the Capitals' first game out of the Christmas break.

Ovechkin scored in the third period of a 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay on March 1, his 31st goal of the season.

Ovechkin already owns the NHL records for power-play goals and shots on goal.

He also has 135 game-winning goals, tied for the most with Jaromir Jagr. Ovechkin has scored on 181 different goaltenders, breaking Jagr's record by beating Leevi Merilainen of the Senators with No 874. Ovechkin has 178 multi-goal games, second to Gretzky (189).

Ovechkin earlier this season became the 60th player to record 700 career assists. He joined Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Jagr, Marcel Dionne and Phil Esposito as the only players with 700 goals and 700 assists.

Ovechkin, after climbing past Mike Gartner (708), Esposito (717), Dionne (731), Brett Hull (741) and Jagr (766), scored goal No 802 on Dec 23, 2022, to move into second behind Gretzky (894).

Gretzky has held the record since scoring his 802nd goal on March 23,1994, to pass Howe. He added 92 more before retiring in 1999 after a total of 1,487 games over 20 seasons.

Gretzky holds 55 NHL records and even if his goals mark falls to Ovechkin, two seem truly untouchable: 2,857 total points and 1,963 assists, which is more than anyone else has in goals and assists combined.

Agencies Via Xinhua