Before Gretzky – 92 goals. Today, this amount seems like a solid distance. And 40 years ago they were mere seeds.
There were 92 goals that Gretzky shot in the monstrous Edmonton in the 1981/82 championship. The next season-71, then-87, 73, 62. But as soon as the Canadian of Belarusian blood left the Oilers at the age of 27 in 1988, his performance simply collapsed. In the 11 championships before his retirement, he only reached the 40-goal mark three times. Yes, and it happened right after he moved to Los Angeles.
It is significant that Gretzky himself deposed Howe from the throne at the age of 33, scoring a goal in California against Vancouver on March 23, 1994. The NHL was already ruled by Gary Bettman, who organized a lavish celebration ceremony. The game was interrupted for 15 minutes! Suddenly, Gretzky’s parents appeared in the room, as well as the Howe couple, who followed the Canadian as he approached the record milestone. Kings owner Bruce McNall also took to the ice with buns. The one who soon went to prison for five years for coin smuggling, fraud and theft of $236 million from six banks, which resulted in the bankruptcy of the Reyes in 1995.
Well, how then did the old forward of number 99 get on the Pik-894? For five years the poor man suffered!
1994/95 – 11 goals (in 48 games)
1995/96 – 23 (80)
1996/97 – 25 (82)
1997/98 – 23 (82)
1998/99 – 9 (70)
Total – 91 discs
The question is, what other arguments does the planet need for everyone to finally realize that the so-called Great is the most overrated character in the history of world sports! As soon as he left the more powerful Edmonton, the NHL became not a small town, but an international league with Russian and Czechoslovakian prime ministers, goalies put on normal ammunition, and New Jersey taught the entire league how to defend itself, like only one burnt pumpkin remained from the promoted Canadian goalscorer.
The fools in the leadership of the Klenovs realized this too late. For whatever reason, Gretzky was named captain of the 1996 World Cup team, they preferred him to Mark Messier at the 1998 Olympics. In response, the restart number 99 blew them all up with success in both mega-tournaments. He then quietly slaughtered the former Rangers front men in the graveyard.
But back to the big eight. First, let’s compare his NHL performance at age 33-plus:
2018/19 – 51 goals (in 81 games)
2019/20 – 48 (68)
2020/21 – 24 (45)
2021/22 – 50 (77)
2022/23 – 22 (36)
In total – 195 goals!
Amazing! Ovi’s car, 37 years old, has more than twice the speed of Wayne’s car compared to the same conditions.
Well, as for this 802nd goal by the Washington captain against an empty Winnipeg net… Yes, Mark Howe, who became runner-up at the 1972 Olympics at age 16, after Alexander closed out the round of 16, publicly stated. :
– I don’t want Ovi to score 801 and 802 to empty nets. I want it to be a record worth noting. It will be great for hockey. We will follow Ovechkin.
Unfortunately, Mark himself was the first to break his word. Along with his older brother, Marty, they attended the Capitals’ previous home game when they hosted Detroit on Dec. 20. The club where his best father played 25 seasons! Muscovite then skidded dry for the third straight meeting. Nor did he score yesterday in Ottawa. However, no one from the Howe family was seen in the stands today. But after the 802nd goal, Mark congratulated the glorious Dynamo player from the video cube screen.
At this time, Ovechkin left Kuznetsov on the bench:
– I thought you’d kill yourself!
– Why do I need this? Eugenio laughed.
What happened at the end of the game with the Jets?
Giving up 1:3, the guests of course replaced the goalkeeper with a sixth outfield player. 76 seconds before the final whistle, Ovi lobbed the puck from his zone into Winnipeg’s empty frame, and it landed on the post!
– It should not be! – apparently, thought Alexander.
Therefore, when Kuznetsov won the throw-in and gave Ovechkin an empty net near the red line, he did not throw it himself, but returned the puck to the Chelyabinsk player. And he relaxed … However, Kuzya did not hit the unprotected frame for a reason that was later announced on the bench. And he threw it at the captain. He, who had already been logged out of the game, quickly oriented himself and threw this disc 802 out of the crowd of players in one turn.
So dear Mark, if you have any questions, please contact Kuza. Zhenya literally dragged the Big Eight into history. And rightly so: we don’t have time to waste at intermediate stations!
