- Ovechkin says his first game back from a broken fibula was his hardest in years
- His wife Nastya described the pressure nobody outside the family saw
- Read below for the full quotes and video from his rehab skate with Nicklas Backstrom
Alex Ovechkin made the goals record look routine from the outside. He says the night he came back from a broken leg was the hardest hockey he had played in years.
The Capitals captain walked through the whole chase on the Empty Netters podcast, and he did not soften what December 28, 2024 felt like after 16 games in street clothes.
“When you’re coming back after like month without playing, it’s hard. You’re out of shape. You’re in shape, but you’re out of shape. And the first game was the hardest game I played since, like, maybe Olympic breaks or whatever. Because basically you’re skating, but you’re not pushing your leg 100 percent. You kind of like try to protect your leg from, you know, when you turn left or right. You kind of like, you still have that fear.”
That same sit-down is where he finally explained the plunger he once taped to his stick.
The injury landed at the worst possible time. Ovechkin had 15 goals through 18 games and a hat trick against Vegas the night before, then a leg-on-leg collision with Utah forward Jack McBain fractured his left fibula on November 18, 2024.
It parked him at 868 goals, 26 behind Wayne Gretzky’s 894.
Ovechkin was asked how that stretch felt with the chase suddenly on hold.
“It was a hard position for me and hard position for fans and for my family because I was on the pace to score maybe 50 goals.”
Doctors gave him four to six weeks. He was skating in 14 days, and Washington set up a private session with Nicklas Backstrom to break up the rehab grind.
Take a look at the two of them back on the ice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex:
His wife, Nastya, was asked about the toll the chase was taking, and she told Sport-Express that the mental side was heavier than anyone outside the house saw.
“I think he’s feeling the pressure. He’s just trying not to show it. As for me and everyone around him, naturally, we all want it to happen as soon as possible.”
Ovechkin came back against Toronto and buried an empty-netter for No. 869 in a 5-2 win. He piled up 29 goals over his final 47 games and passed Gretzky on April 6, 2025, beating Ilya Sorokin on the power play for 895.
Asked what the moment actually did for him, he described it as weight coming off.
“That day when I broke the record, it was a relief from my shoulder. Because every day, every time when I go to the restaurant or I talk to someone, everybody, ‘Are you going to break the record this year?’ It’s kind of like something fell off of my shoulder.”
The next number is 1,000 regular-season goals, and no player in league history has ever been there.
