4 – Number of times in his career in which Alex Ovechkin has hit the 20-goal mark in fewer than 30 games, including this season. Ovechkin’s breakaway backhander last night put him into the 20-goal club in Game #28 – the third-fastest he’s ever scored 20 goals in his career, behind the insane 22-game pace he set (twice!) in 2009-10 and 2013-14 and the 27 games he needed to get there back in 2007-08.
Surprisingly, per Elias, this is actually only the second time in which he’s been the fastest in the League to 20 – the other time was that 2013-14 campaign, when he got to 20 goals on November 23.
Ovechkin also continues his streak of scoring at least 20 goals in each of his first 13 seasons, one of just 11 players in NHL history to accomplish that feat. Not only that, but with his 20th of the season he moves another rung up the ladder of the greatest goal-scorers in the history of the League.
And it’s not like he’s scoring many cheapies, either… because this is a beauty:
Never gets old.
Here’s a quick year-by-year look at when Ovechkin got to #20 each season since his rookie year: