- Steven Stamkos climbed into sole possession of 17th on the NHL’s all-time goals list
- The Predators forward scored twice in his hometown, but Toronto rallied to win in overtime
- Read below for the goal video and what Stamkos said about Joe Sakic
Steven Stamkos just passed two Hall of Famers in one shot.
The Predators forward scored his 626th career goal on Tuesday night in Toronto, moving past Joe Sakic and Jarome Iginla for sole possession of 17th place on the NHL’s all-time goals list. Sakic and Iginla both finished their careers with 625.
It came on the power play at 7:13 of the first period. Stamkos cleaned up the rebound of a Matthew Wood shot below the left dot to open the scoring at Scotiabank Arena.
Watch goal No. 626:
He wasn’t done. Stamkos ripped one over Anthony Stolarz’s glove from the top of the right circle at 13:30 of the second, making it 4-2 Nashville and pushing his career total to 627.
Nashville still left without the win. Toronto came all the way back from 3-0 down, and Gavin McKenna scored his first NHL goal just 61 seconds after Stamkos’ second. Auston Matthews won it 5-4 with 14 seconds left in overtime.
Doing it in Toronto meant a bit more, since Stamkos grew up just up the road in Markham, Ont. He was asked what it means to see his name sitting next to guys like Sakic.
“Certainly Joe Sakic was the reason why I wore No. 19 as a kid growing up,” Stamkos said. “So it’s just so hard to comprehend it when you’re in the middle of it right now, and you see the list and you get asked about it, and it’s just you never thought you’d be there.”
Dave Andreychuk is next up at 640, another former Lightning captain. Stamkos sits 13 goals back of him. Sidney Crosby is 15th with 654.
Now 36, Stamkos has three goals in three games to start his third season in Nashville. That follows a 42-goal campaign last year. He also became the third active player with 100 game-opening goals, joining Alex Ovechkin (154) and Crosby (127).
With Ovechkin announcing this will be his final season, Stamkos talked about how long he wants to keep going.
“I’ve always looked at playing 20 years in this league as pretty remarkable and this is year 19 for me,” Stamkos said. “I still love coming to the rink and I still love working to get better… For me, as long as my body’s feeling good, I want to keep playing.”
