Capitals' Alex Ovechkin first NHL player to score 900 goals - ESPN

WASHINGTON — The NHL now has a 900-goal club.

Charter member: Alex Ovechkin, of course.

The Washington Capitals star pushed his record total to a new level Wednesday night, scoring against Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues to reach 900. The milestone came 2:39 into the second period.

Ovechkin was lurking in the offensive zone and was at the bottom of the right circle when he backhanded Jakob Chychrun's rebound past a sliding Binnington, who wasn't able to recover in time. The bench cleared to celebrate the 40-year-old's accomplishment, while Binnington tucked the milestone puck into his pants to try to prevent the Capitals from keeping it. He eventually relinquished the puck to a linesman when he was pulled from the game for Joel Hofer.

Of Ovechkin's 900 goals, 22 have been scored against the Blues, and four against Binnington.

After breaking Wayne Gretzky's career record with his 895th goal in April, Ovechkin entered this season needing three more to reach 900. After four games without one, the 40-year-old Russian ended that drought in the third period against Minnesota on Oct. 17.

A week later, he scored No. 899 against Columbus.

«It's insane to think about four, five, six years ago,» longtime teammate T.J. Oshie said last week. «Anyone that says, 'Can Ovi do this?' I'm like, 'Yeah, probably.'»

Ovechkin is in the final season of his contract, and it's a long way from here to 1,000, so this could be the final round-number goal-scoring milestone for the star forward, who has won three MVPs and led the league in goals nine times.

«Even with the slow start here, if someone asks me if he's going to score 30 this year, I'd say, 'Yes, guaranteed,'» said Oshie, who retired in June. «He just finds a way to prove people