We don’t know whether this will be Alex Ovechkin’s final season as a Washington Capital or not, but there’s never a bad time to reflect back on two decades of being treated to this amazing talent. So each game day throughout the 2025-26 season, we’re going to be picking an Ovechkin moment to remember against that day’s opponent as we look back at an incredible career.
Ovechkin’s 50th Gets the Hot Stick Treatment – March 19, 2009
By the 2008-09 season, Alex Ovechkin had already hit 50 goals twice in his first three seasons (and fell just four goals short in 2006-07) – so hitting that mark wasn’t anything new to the Caps’ phenom. Still, as we all well know, Ovechkin loves to score goals almost as much as he loves celebrating goals scored by his teammates, and he had something special cooked up for #50.
The opportunity to bust out the red-hot celebration came in Tampa via a now-familiar Ovechkin move. The young Russian flew down the wing, outnumbered by Lightning defenders only to unleash a shot that ripped past goaltender Mike McKenna…and then celebrated like no one ever had before:
The moment was immediately divisive, raising eyebrows among the stodgy hockey traditionalists (we won’t subject you to the garbage spewed by Don Cherry but he certainly had thoughts on the matter) while those who wanted the sport to be fun and embrace personality celebrated it. At the end of the day, it was an encapsulation of what has made Ovechkin so special to watch over the years: he loves to score, loves the game, and is just so damn fun to watch.
Hell, even the guy he scored on admitted that – after initially being mad at Ovechkin – he was proud to be part of a historic moment:
“We talked about it after, and I don’t know if it was maybe a week later, whenever was the next time. I’ll never forget—I remember just saying hi and him saying ‘I did not mean embarrass or disrespect you or anything. I thought we were having fun,’” McKenna said. “He was apologetic about it…and you know what? I was totally cool with it. Like, for him to even take that time to just be a human and say, ‘This is what I was feeling in the moment.’ I have a hard time holding that against anybody, especially if they can have the humility to think maybe it wasn’t nice or right or whatever. Yeah, that was a nice moment afterwards.”
Interestingly enough, the culprit behind the idea? Goaltender Jose Theodore, who wrote about the famous celebration:
“Alex Ovechkin was criticized for his burning stick reaction when he scored his 50th goal in 2010, but I’ll make a confession. He was looking for a unique way to celebrate, and it was me who suggested the burning stick concept. The rascal never gave me credit for the idea, but I have to say his execution was somewhat botched. In fact, he looked more like a guy playing the piano than a guy warming his hands by a fire. Also, the guys were supposed to gather around the stick, but they were embarrassed and didn’t follow. Still, the moment went down in history, and we had a good laugh about it.”
Jose Theodore – Le Journal de Montreal, 11/17/15