The Buffalo Sabres paid their respect and admiration for Alex Ovechkin, the longtime Washington Capital broke Wayne Gretzky's all-time record of career goals scored last night. Ovechkin scored his 895th goal to break "the Great One's" record.
In the video tribute, players such as Sabres leader in goals this season Tage Thompson, showed love and appreciation for Ovechkin's career and record-breaking moment. Buffalo has had several run ins with Ovechkin over the years.
He and the Capitals are 38-22 in 67 games against the Sabres. The player who has scored the most goals in the history of the NHL, has had 42 of them against Buffalo. In addition, he has 29 assists. The most he had against the Sabres in a season was five in the 2007-2008 campaign.
He has never played the Sabres in the postseason. Only two times, were the Capitals and the Sabres have played in the postseason at the same time during his tenure. Ovechkin has been with the Capitals since the 2005-2006 season. He and the Capitals won the Stanley Cup in 2018.
This season as he was chasing Gretzky he played the Sabres twice.
Buffalo is currently 2-1 on the year against Washington. Ovechkin was not available for the December 14th game where Washington won 4-2.
The Sabres defeated the Capitals on January 6th in a 4-3 shootout win. During the game he took five shots, all missing the mark. A week ago, in 8-5 Buffalo, Ovechkin scored in the loss. It was his 890th goal which put him five goals away from Gretzky at the time.
His goal did put the Capitals behind 6-4 in the third period before Buffalo would pull away. It will be the last time that he and Washington will face off against Buffalo this season.
Seeing Ovechkin maybe sparked something inside of Sabres forward Tage Thompson. In addition to two goals in the victory over the Capitals, Thompson has followed up with five goals in the last three games including a hat trick the other night against the Boston Bruins.
The nearest Buffalo Sabre to Ovechkin's all-time record of 895 goals is Dave Andreychuk with 640. He spent 13 seasons with the Sabres including the first 12 of his career.
Left winger Jason Zucker has 217 goals and is the closest to Ovechkin who is currently on the Sabres roster. It is a remarkable moment for the NHL and well deserved by a player who has battled not only Buffalo but every team in the league.