The forward scored 3:12 into the second period of a
3-1 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets
to become the fourth player with that many, joining Wayne Gretzky (894), Gordie Howe (801) and Jaromir Jagr (766).
"Yeah, it's a pretty cool number," Ovechkin said. "Just keep going. Move on."
Ovechkin is the first player score his 750th NHL goal since Jagr did so playing for the Florida Panthers against the Capitals on Oct. 20, 2016.
Ovechkin has scored 20 goals in 25 games this season.
"[The season] started on time, he was able to get into his programs of things he does in the summer, things he does through training camp and how he starts a season, and it really feels like to me he's gotten off to the start that he wanted to get off to," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said.
Ovechkin needed 79 games to go from goal No. 700, which he scored against the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 22, 2020, to No. 750, which is the fewest games among Howe (106), Gretzky (116) and Jagr (182).
The 36-year-old is the second youngest player to score 750 NHL goals, behind Gretzky, who was 31 when he scored playing for the Los Angeles Kings against the Winnipeg Jets on Jan. 8, 1993. Ovechkin also needed the second-fewest games to do so, with 1,221, behind Gretzky, who did so in 1,001 games.
Howe was 41 when he scored No. 750 in his 1,598th NHL game, playing for the Detroit Red Wings against the Philadelphia Flyers on Feb. 8, 1970. Jagr was 44 when he became the third player to score 750 in his 1,633rd NHL game.
Daniil Tarasov became the 152nd NHL goalie Ovechkin has scored against. The Blue Jackets rookie from Russia played his second NHL game.
"He's one of the greatest players in the world, so it was good to play against him," Tarasov said. "I saw him when I was a kid. It's like [playing] against a real legend. It was good."
Ovechkin played against Tarasov's father, Vadim Tarasov, a goalie in the Russian Superleague, before Ovechkin came to the NHL in 2005-06.
"I think he has a good future," Ovechkin said of 22-year-old Daniil. "He's big (6-foot-6), strong. Again, for us it doesn't matter who's on the ice. We just try to do our job."
