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 | Backstrom on Ovechkin: It was simply unreal to watch what Alex did for many years. I`m lucky I had a front row seat17-07-2024 |
Lars Niklas Backström spoke about Alexander Ovechkin`s rise to 2nd place on the list of NHL snipers.
The Washington captain scored a double in the match with Winnipeg (4:1), scoring his 801st and 802nd goals in the NHL regular season. He moved into 2nd place among the leading scorers in league history, ahead of Gordie Howe (801). Only Wayne Gretzky (894) is ahead.
Over the years, it was simply surreal to watch what Alex Ovechkin did, and I was lucky to have a front row seat.
Although I`m recovering from hip surgery, I still keep a close eye on him and am thrilled that he passed Gordie Howe to become the second-leading scorer in NHL history with his 802nd goal. I know it means a lot to him, his entire family and our organization.
Ovi deserves all the praise. That`s what he is - a natural goalscorer. Scoring comes naturally to him and he just keeps doing it.
For us playing with him, it was like, Oh, he`s already hit 500 goals. Wow. It`s perfect. Then comes one more milestone after another. It`s just incredible that he reached 800 [goals].
I first met Alex at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver after being selected 4th overall by the Capitals. Ovi didn`t speak English very well back then, but neither did I. So that was great. There we connected.
The next day I saw Alex at the airport, walking around with the Calder Trophy given to the NHL Rookie of the Year after he won it earlier that weekend. Everything about that weekend was completely special.
After that, I played one more season in Sweden, just to develop, and then moved to Washington. Ovi and our entire team did a great job helping me adapt. Apparently he knew a little more about the city than I did.
I didn`t play with him at the beginning of my first season. I played with other guys. I played on the wing. When Bruce Boudreau took over as coach that season, he was the one who brought us together. From that point on, we just continued to build chemistry, ” the Washington forward wrote.
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