Thanks to his two-goal, two-assist effort in Washington's 5-3 win over Tampa Bay on Friday night, Alex Ovechkin hit the 100-point plateau for the second consecutive season and third time in four years. He's essentially clinched his second Rocket Richard award as the league's leading goal scorer, and is within six points of Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin for the Art Ross Trophy for most points overall. His two goals on Friday also pushed him past Mario Lemieux's mark of 215 goals in the first four years of his career.
In the process, Ovechkin joins a list of all-time greats.
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With just six games remaining on Washington's schedule, he's obviously not going to overtake Wayne Gretzky or Mike Bossy on top of this chart, but his mere presence is impressive enough. Some observations:
1) There's going to be somebody that says, well, yeah, look at all the shots Ovechkin takes, of course he's going to score a lot of goals. Pick a random player in the NHL -- any player -- and give him 1,700 shots in four years ... how many of them score 216 goals? Not many (if any).
2) The key stat on the chart is the league average goals per game. What would Ovechkin have been capable of playing in the era Gretzky and Bossy played in, when the average game featured nearly two more goals than they do today? During his 60-goal season a year ago, James Mirtle compared Ovechkin's season to other historic goal-scoring seasons, taking into account the differences in generations and came to an interesting conclusion.
3) Ovechkin isn't on the same level as Gretzky or Lemieux as an overall offensive player (mainly because those two were capable of 90-100 assists to go with their 50 and 60 goal seasons) but when it comes to simply scoring goals, there's no question we're watching a unique talent ... and he hasn't even hit his prime yet. Scary.
Having said all of that, is there anybody in the NHL that can seriously challenge Ovechkin for the goal-scoring crown in the coming years? A year ago, he tallied 10 more goals than the second-place goal-scorer (Ilya Kovalchuk) and is 11 ahead of Zach Parise this season. Kovalchuk and Dany Heatley might be solid bets, seeing as they each have a pair of 50-goal seasons under their belts. The problem for them is, Ovechkin looks like he's capable of scoring 60 goals (or close to it) in an era when nobody else can regularly score 50.
Alex Ovechkin Photos
MONTREAL - JANUARY 24: Eastern Conference All-Star Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals competes in the 'Scotiabank NHL Fan Fav Breakaway Challenge' during the Honda NHL Superskills competition as part of the 2009 NHL All-Star weekend on January 24, 2009 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
Dave Sandford, Getty Images
WASHINGTON - MARCH 27: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his first period goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 27, 2009 at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Bruce Bennett, Getty Images
WASHINGTON - MARCH 27: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals checks Matt Smaby #32 of the Tampa Bay Lightning into the boards during a NHL hockey game on March 27, 2009 at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/NHLI via Getty Images)
Mitchell Layton, NHLI / Getty Images
RALEIGH, NC - MARCH 21:Alexander Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals skates hard for position during a NHL game against the Carolina Hurricanes on March 21, 2009 at RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)
Gregg Forwerck, NHLI / Getty Images
PHILADELPHIA - MARCH 12: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals skates in towards the crease against Danny Briere #48 and Martin Biron #43 of the Philadelphia Flyers on March 12, 2009 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
Len Redkoles, NHLI / Getty Images
PHILADELPHIA - MARCH 12: A young male fan holds up a sign for Alex Ovechkin during the pregame warm ups at a NHL game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Washington Capitals on March 12, 2009 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
Len Redkoles, NHLI / Getty Images
BOSTON - FEBRUARY 28: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals during warm-up against the Boston Bruins at the TD Banknorth Garden on February 28, 2009 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
Steve Babineau, NHLI / Getty Images
SUNRISE, FL - FEBRUARY 15: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals sits on the bench during a break in the action against the Florida Panthers at the Bank Atlantic Center on February 15, 2009 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images)
Eliot J. Schechter, NHLI / Getty Images
NEWARK, NJ - FEBRUARY 03: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals skates against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on February 3, 2009 in Newark, New Jersey. The Capitals defeated the Devils 5-2. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Jim McIsaac, Getty Images
MONTREAL - JANUARY 24: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals skates during the Honda NHL Superskills competition as part of the 2009 NHL All-Star weekend on January 24, 2009 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
Mike Stobe, Getty Images
