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.
400th Goal – December 20, 2013
Alex Ovechkin’s resume is littered with highlight-reel goals and blistering shots from his office, jaw-dropping moments and end-to-end rushes. There are also a fair number of empty-net goals – more than anyone in history, actually, nine more than Wayne Gretzky. What does that tell us? That coaches trust the big man to be on the ice in a close game, playing smart defense on what is essentially a penalty-killing situation, and he still manages to do some damage.
That was the case in December of 2013, when the Caps were in Raleigh to face the Hurricanes. Up 3-2 late in the third period, the Caps found themselves hemmed into their own zone for a lengthy stretch against the ‘Canes 6-on-5 attack. Finally, Martin Erat – remember that guy? – was able to block a shot in front of the net and collect the puck, sending it over to where both Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom were waiting to break it out. Backstrom corralled the puck and sent it out to center ice where he knew #8 would catch up to it – and he did, outskating Eric Staal to pot the empty-netter:
The celebration was subdued for Ovechkin, but the moment was a big one. Not only did it secure the win for the Caps against their division rival, and cap off a three-point night for the captain (he also had assists on two of the team’s three power-play goals – remember those??), but it also went in the books as his 400th career goal. It took him just 634 games to get there, the sixth-fastest in NHL history to hit the milestone, and at the time was the 89th player in history to hit 400.