Ovechkin Makes History Again at 40: 20 Goals in 46 Games — This is Rare in the NHL 0 9

In the capital of Tennessee, the Nashville Predators defeated the Washington Capitals in a tense battle with a score of 3:2. The match was evenly contested: after a tied first period (1:1), the second remained scoreless, and the decisive surge by the hosts came early in the third, scoring two goals in two minutes.

The scoring frenzy for the Predators began with Steven Stamkos at the 14th minute, followed by Cole Smith (42nd) and Roman Josi (44th) after the break. The guests responded with Alexander Ovechkin, who opened the scoring just 6 minutes in, and Ethen Frank, who scored on the power play at the 50th minute.

Particular attention was drawn to the performance of the Russian captain of the Capitals. Ovechkin spent almost 19 minutes on the ice, made two shots on goal, executed a body check, and recorded an assist. The goal allowed him to extend his personal scoring streak to four consecutive games. So far, in 46 games of the 2025/26 season, the forward has accumulated 40 points (20+20).

This goal made Alexander Ovechkin only the third player in NHL history over 40 years old to score at least 20 goals in the first 46 games of a season (previously, only Gordie Howe and Johnny Bucyk achieved this). Additionally, the Russian has reached the 20+ goals mark in the regular season for the 21st time in his career, trailing only Gordie Howe (22 seasons) in this statistic. Notably, Ovechkin remains the only player in league history to consistently score at least 20 goals every year since his first season in the NHL.