GOAT goal-scorer: Ovechkin's legacy is one of sheer force and authenticity

Defenseman Mike Komisarek fired a breakout pass to partner Roman Hamrlik early in a Canadiens-Capitals game Feb. 18, 2009. The puck missed its target at Montreal's blue line and scooted into a largely empty neutral zone.

Alex Ovechkin, 23 years old and in his fourth NHL season, smelled blood.

The Capitals winger met the puck near the red line and backhanded it off the boards while spinning 180 degrees to avoid Hamrlik. Ovechkin then chased down the puck in Montreal's zone, beelined to the net, drove his shoulder into a defender, and crashed to the ice. Sliding on his right side, Ovechkin managed to lift the puck over goalie Carey Price to notch career goal No. 205.

It was one of the most magnificent goals Ovechkin - or any NHLer - has ever scored yet (somehow) wasn't the first time he willed a puck past the goal line mid-slide. What makes that jaw-dropping 2009 sequence particularly salient is its representative quality. Prime-time Ovechkin was creative, quick, skilled, and physically dominant - truly a one-of-one package in the sport's history.

Now, after scoring a second-period goal Sunday against the New York Islanders, Ovechkin is one of one in a different context. His name sits alone atop the all-time goals leaderboard: 895, a tally up on The Great One, Wayne Gretzky. Spend enough time in NHL dressing rooms and you'll hear the same phrase over and over: scoring goals is the hardest thing to do. Ovechkin, new owner of the league's ultimate record, is officially the GOAT goal-scorer.

"Every single team and coach for the last 15, 20 years - whatever it's been - has had a plan that hasn't worked," longtime NHL head coach Paul Maurice said recently. "At some point, you go, 'There's no plan.' Just try to get the puck to move to somebody else, I guess."

"I would always take one extra step out of my crease to eliminate any possible angles he had at shooting," Hall of Fame goalie Roberto Luongo said of his Ovechkin-specific plan. "When he didn't have the puck, I was aware at all times of where he was on the ice in case he was getting fed for a one-timer."

Ovechkin finished the 2008-09 season with a 0.71 goals-per-game average, tied for the second-highest rate of his 20-year career. The highest came the season prior: 0.79 per game as a 22-year-old, off a ludicrous 65 goals.

The Russian's bagged 42 goals in 61 games this season for a 0.69 per-game rate. At age 39 and in a year in which he suffered a major injury, Ovechkin remains a prolific scorer. That LeBron James-esque career arc - a super-high peak coupled with a multi-decade stretch of relevance as a top producer - makes Ovechkin a no-brainer first-ballot Hall of Famer. If the list of the five best players of all time includes Gretzky, Bobby Orr, Mario Lemieux, Gordie Howe, and Sidney Crosby, Ovechkin is comfortably in Tier 2 alongside Jaromir Jagr, Nicklas Lidstrom, Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau, Dominik Hasek, and a few others.

Ovechkin's maintained his insane production by evolving. Young Ovi was certifiably electric, especially off the rush. Those wrecking-ball years helped get him to first in career shots (6,852) and third in hits (3,735).

Old Ovi is slower, less physical, and not as impactful shift to shift. But he's savvier. He taps into his elite hockey IQ to find openings in the offensive zone and will often camp out in the net-front area for deflection opportunities.

What hasn't changed over time: Ovechkin's passion for scoring goals and enthusiasm for shooting pucks. He might be fed a pass way outside a typical shooter's wheelhouse, or the puck may be wobbling, but he's hammering it in either scenario. This threatening approach famously creates a gravitational pull on the power play, where penalty killers shade toward Ovechkin's left-circle "office" and in the process leave teammates wide open.

Nicklas Backstrom, the playmaking center who assisted on more Ovechkin goals than anyone, was recently asked to share his biggest takeaway from his many years skating with the right-handed left winger. "Probably explaining to him that he wasn't always open," Backstrom responded with a laugh.

"The puck," Backstrom added in amazement, "always finds him."

Ovechkin's shot - quick, hard, accurate, moving - is distinct. Similar to the 6-foot-3, 238-pounder's overall playing style, it's more forceful than graceful.

"He gets everything on it. He's 240 pounds of pure muscle," former Capitals goalie Olaf Kolzig told theScore. "The type of hook that he has on his stick - when he gets it perfectly in the center of his blade, it's a catapult. It's gone.

"But even if he gets it on the inside or outside of that curve, it puts a bit of a knuckle on it. It still comes with velocity, but now it's got a little bit of movement. Any batter in baseball will tell you that a knuckleball's impossible to hit. Sometimes, those knuckle-pucks are impossible to stop."

Jonathan Quick, one of 183 goalies to allow an Ovechkin goal, also used a baseball analogy to describe the three-time Hart Trophy winner's shot. "You see the blur of the puck coming at you in frames," Quick wrote in 2015 for The Players' Tribune. "One frame, two frames … by the third frame it's already hitting you. If you're trying to make a reaction save against Ovi, you're already beat. You better already be at the top of the crease cutting off the angle."

Ovechkin's legacy extends well beyond his raw goal totals. He and Crosby entered the post-lockout NHL as hopeful saviors and 20 years later are still megastars on and off the ice. The frenemies memorably traded hat tricks in a playoff game and own enough individual hardware to fill a wing in the Hall of Fame. Crosby (622 goals) has Ovechkin beat in Stanley Cups, three to one.

"It's really cool to be able to play in the same division, to have had the history that we've had over the years, to come in at the same time with pretty high expectations, and to see him be this close to probably what was thought to be an untouchable record," Crosby said last fall at the NHL player media tour.

"It's incredible what he's doing. I feel pretty grateful to be part of that."

We've watched Ovechkin grow from rambunctious teenager to gray-haired father of two, from alleged coach killer to respected captain, and from supposed playoff choker to Conn Smythe winner. All along, the nine-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner's been astoundingly durable: only 35 games missed to injury before a broken leg forced him to sit out 16 this season.

"It's a gift from God. Usually, you are physical but not a scoring guy. He's both," Oilers forward Vasili Podkolzin said. "He's still super physical, and he's still shooting a puck like I've never seen before. It's really crazy."

In one way, Ovechkin is mechanical: goal after goal with limited time off. Yet he's also a natural entertainer who broke the robotic hockey player mold with exuberant celebrations (sometimes in fountains and to the chagrin of old-schoolers), flashy fashion, humorous TV commercials, and an atypical athlete diet filled with Subway sandwiches, Cheetos, Coca-Cola, and Red Bull.

The man exudes authenticity, swagger, and self-belief.

"He's got a smile all the time," Golden Knights goalie Ilya Samsonov, a former Capital, said. "He likes to joke. He's like an engine within the team."

Defenseman Erik Johnson, who's faced off against Ovechkin for 17 years, said: "What I love about him most, I think, is when other Capitals players score, he's just as excited. That's a really cool thing that not everybody does."

Ovechkin is fiercely proud of his Russian heritage (his ties to President Vladimir Putin blunts this story for some fans) and adopted hometown of Washington. He arrived in 2005 and never left. His contract runs through next season and this year's Caps (49-19-9) are primed for a deep playoff run.

Red Wings great Steve Yzerman is the only other player on the top-10 goals list to spend his entire career in one place. Gretzky played for four different franchises in 20 seasons. No. 3 Howe suited up for two.

Ovechkin's impact on D.C. sports is incalculable. Home games are filled with No. 8 jerseys of all types. Youth hockey exploded during his first decade in town. Owner Ted Leonsis purchased the Caps for $85 million in 1999. The club's worth almost $2 billion now, and much of that can be attributed to the impact of Ovechkin's brilliance. Soon there will surely be an Ovechkin statue outside Capital One Arena.

The question is: what will a bronzed Ovi be doing? Bulling over an opponent? Readying for the one-timer that influenced a generation of NHL snipers? Hoisting the Cup above his head? Blasting another shot on goal? Celebrating goal 895, stomach on the ice, arms outstretched, helmet tilted forward?

Gretzky is famously credited with saying, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

Ovechkin put 100% into every shot he took. And now he stands rightfully alone.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email ([email protected]).