I heard Caps' radio broadcaster John Walton (@WaltonCaps on Twitter) make the call for that 500th goal, and boy, howdy, was he screaming! It was awesome! I knew it would happen some time this week; I was kindof hoping for Thursday, though, because that's when I have tickets... but I'm glad Ovi did it on Sunday anyway, because he's really good at making us wait on milestones... Look at how long it took him to beat Sergei Fedorov's record.
And speaking of records...
33 - Brian Trottier - 524
34 - Pat Verbeek - 522
35 - Dale Hawerchuk - 518
36 - Pierre Turgeon - 515
37 - Jeremy Roenick - 513
38 - Gilbert Perreault - 512
39 - Jean Beliveau - 507
40 - Peter Bondra - 503 in 1081 career games
41 - Joe Mullen - 502 in 1062 career games
42 - Alex Ovechkin - 501 in 801 games career!
43 - Lanny McDonald - 500
44 - Glenn Anderson - 498
Next up: Joe Mullen, then Peter Bondra and the Capitals' record for most goals scored in a career.
Joseph Patrick Mullen (b. 26-Feb-1957) played in the NHL from 1981-1996, primarily as a right wing. In his career, he played for the St. Louis Blues, the Calgary Flames, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and one season for the Boston Bruins before returning to Pittsburgh for the last season of his career. In his NHL career, Mullen scored 502 goals, and 561 assists for 1,063 points.H American-born, he played nationally for the United States at the World Championships in 1979 and 1999, and at the Canada Cup in 1984, 1987, and 1991. In 15 games played internationally, he scored 3 goals, and had 9 assists, for a total of 12 points. His son, Patrick Mullen, currently plays for the Binghamton Senators, and has played in the AHL since the 2010-11 season, when he played for the Manchester Monarchs. In 302 AHL games played as a defenseman, young Patrick has 33 goals, and 99 assists, for 132 points. Joe is currently employed as an assistant coach by the Philadelphia Flyers, who are sitting at 21st place in the league at the moment, with an 18-15-7 record this season.
Peter Bondra (affectionately known as Bonzai! while he played for the Capitals) was born 7-February-1968 in Lutsk, Ukranian SSR, USSR (now a part of Slovakia). Bonzai played most of his NHL career with the Washington Capitals, from 1990-91 through 2003-04, interrupted by a brief stint with the Detroit Vipers. On February 5, 1994, Bondra scored five goals in a single game, one of only ~43 players to do so in the history of the NHL (I got interrupted; I'm not counting again!) He was a part of the Capitals' team during their sole appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1997-98. During the 2004-05 lockout season, he played for the Slovak Extraliga (HK Poprad), and on his return, signed with the Atlanta Thrashers for the 2005-06 season. His final season in the NHL was 2006-07, with the Chicago Blackhawks. Internationally, he played in 47 games and scored 35 goals for Slovakia, including two appearances in the Winter Olympics (1998 and 2006), the qualifying tournament for the 2004 Winter Olympics, the World Cup of Hockey in 1996, and the Ice Hockey World Championship in 2002 and 2003. During the 2002 World Championship, Bondra scored 7 goals, including the game winning goal in the Gold Medal game against Russia. In 2003, Slovakia won Bronze.
Bondra was traded after the 2003-04 season to the Ottawa Senators for Brooks Laich, still a member of the present-day Capitals team. While he played in Washington, Bondra's number was 12; that number is not currently in use, and there are good arguments for retiring the number out there, not the least of which is Bondra's possession of many Capitals records, including the most goals in a career (503)... for now. Other team records Bondra holds:
- Most shorthanded goals in a season (6) shared with Mike Gartner
- Most shorthanded goals in a career (32)
- Most game-winning goals in a season (13) (Ovi has 5 this year in 42 games played)
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