Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin is closing in on Wayne Gretzky’s profession NHL regular-season report of 894 targets, one which has stood for greater than a quarter-century.
It is a quantity that was seemingly untouchable. Gretzky, thought of arguably the best hockey participant of all time, set the mark with the New York Rangers in 1999 in his twentieth and last season.
The 39-year-old Ovechkin has till the Capitals’ last regular-season recreation on April 17 to interrupt it or watch for subsequent yr. He was two away, at 893 targets, after scoring throughout the Capitals’ recreation towards the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday, April 4.
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“It is only a matter of time, whether or not it is late this yr, early subsequent yr, each time,” Gretzky told NHL.com final September about Ovechkin breaking the mark. “I imply, he is an ideal participant. He is an ideal purpose scorer.”
Gretzky additionally holds the report for many profession targets within the common season and playoffs mixed, with 1,016. Ovechkin sits in second place as properly in that class, about 50 targets again.
Gretzky received 4 Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, and in addition performed for the Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers. Against this, Ovechkin has spent his complete professional profession in Washington, D.C. A colourful persona off the ice, the Moscow native as soon as portrayed a Russian spy in an ESPN business and swam in a public fountain with teammates to have fun profitable the Stanley Cup. Ovechkin, who led the Capitals to their first championship in 2018, already holds a number of NHL profession data, together with probably the most energy play targets, most goalies scored upon and most targets with one staff.
As he nears one other, listed below are a number of the most well-known data in American sports activities.
Wayne Gretzky’s NHL assists and factors report: 1,963 and a couple of,857
Whereas Ovechkin is nearing Gretzky’s holy grail of targets, nobody will possible contact Gretzky’s report of 1,963 assists and a couple of,857 whole factors.
To place that in perspective: If Gretzky had by no means scored a single purpose in his complete profession, he would nonetheless be the NHL all-time chief in factors since targets and assists each depend as one level in hockey. By comparability, the No. 2 all-time factors chief is Jaromir Jagr, who tallied 766 targets and 1,155 assists throughout his profession for a complete of 1,921 factors — or almost 1,000 factors shy of Gretzky.
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Wilt Chamberlain with probably the most factors in an NBA recreation: 100
On March 2, 1962, the late Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 factors for the then-Philadelphia Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors) in a win over the New York Knicks. Chamberlain, considered one of NBA’s biggest facilities, went 28 of 32 from the stripe regardless of being a profession 50% free throw shooter.
It is a report that has by no means been threatened. The late Kobe Bryant got here the closest when he scored 81 factors for the Los Angeles Lakers in a recreation towards the Toronto Raptors in 2006.
Chamberlain was completely dominant in his period. There have solely been 15 70-plus point games in NBA historical past, and Chamberlain has six of them.
AP Picture/Paul Vathis, File 
Cal Ripken Jr. with probably the most consecutive MLB video games performed: 2,632
For 17 seasons, Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. didn’t miss a single recreation. From Could 1982 till September 1998, Ripken was an iron man, enjoying a surprising 2,632 consecutive video games.
On Sept. 6, 1995, Ripken broke New York Yankees legendary first baseman Lou Gehrig’s then 59-year-old report of two,130 straight video games set in 1939, one which was believed to be unbreakable. For good measure, Ripken went on to play one other 502 straight video games after surpassing Gehrig.
His streak got here to an finish on Sept. 20, 1998, when he voluntarily selected to take a seat out Baltimore’s last residence recreation of the season towards the Yankees.
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Caitlin Clark because the all-time main scorer in NCAA Division I basketball: 3,951 factors
In her last season at Iowa, Caitlin Clark turned a family title, fully upending the basketball world. Her video games turned must-see TV, drawing in tens of millions of latest followers, and her rivalry with Angel Reese prompted Lakers legend Magic Johnson to compare it to his personal with the nice Larry Hen.
And whereas Clark set quite a few data over her faculty profession, one stands head and shoulders above all of them. On March 3, 2024, towards Ohio State, the sharp-shooting guard passed the late “Pistol” Pete Maravich to develop into the NCAA Division I profession scoring chief. His mark of three,667 factors set in 1970 with LSU had stood for 54 years.
Clark finally completed her faculty profession with 3,951 factors — no at present lively gamers are near Clark’s mark. Over 139 video games for Iowa, she averaged 28.4 factors per recreation, additionally a girls’s Division I report.
And he or she’s not almost achieved. The 23-year-old was the No. 1 total choose by the Indiana Fever within the 2024 WNBA draft, and as a rookie, she set the WNBA’s single-season assists report with 337.
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Jack Nicklaus with golf’s most main titles: 18
{Golfing} legend Jack Nicklaus received an astounding 18 majors between 1962 and 1986. That included six Masters, 5 PGA Championships, 4 U.S. Opens and three British Opens.
If that wasn’t sufficient, Nicklaus was a runner-up in one other 19 majors, also a record, in response to the PGA Tour.
When Tiger Woods got here blazing onto the scene within the mid-Nineties, Nicklaus’ majors report gave the impression to be in danger. However Woods — whose profession was derailed by accidents and tumult in his private life — sits three again from Nicklaus at 15.
Whereas Nicklaus holds the report for many majors, Woods and Sam Snead are tied for the report for many PGA tour wins with 82. Nicklaus is in second with 73.
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The 1972 Miami Dolphins with the NFL’s solely undefeated season
To say legendary head coach Don Shula and his 1972 Miami Dolphins steamrolled via the remainder of the NFL is an understatement. That staff, which produced eight Corridor of Famers, went a stellar 14-0 within the common season and had the league’s No. 1 ranked offense and protection.
The Dolphins then tore via their playoff competitors, defeating Washington 14-7 in Tremendous Bowl VII to cap their good 17-0 season.
That report was put in severe jeopardy in 2007 by Invoice Belichick’s New England Patriots. Spurred by historic seasons from quarterback Tom Brady and vast receiver Randy Moss, the Pats went 16-0 within the common season and reached Tremendous Bowl XLII, the place they have been closely favored towards the New York Giants.
However that solely set the stage for one of many biggest upsets in NFL historical past. Late within the fourth quarter and trailing 14-10, Giants quarterback Eli Manning and vast receiver David Tyree related on the “helmet catch,” one of many biggest performs in NFL historical past. The play arrange a Plaxico Burress game-winning landing, denying the Pats their good season.
Each NFL season, when the final undefeated staff loses, the remaining dwelling members of the 1972 Dolphins staff will pop champagne to have fun.
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The Los Angeles Lakers with the NBA’s longest profitable streak: 33 video games
With a roster that includes the likes of legendary Corridor of Famers Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Gail Goodrich, the Lakers ripped off 33 straight regular-season wins from Nov. 5, 1971, till Jan. 7, 1972, a report that also stands greater than a half-century later.
That Lakers staff completed the common season with 69 wins — additionally a report which stood for over 24 years till Michael Jordan’s 1996 Chicago Bulls broke it by going 72-10 — and delivered the Lakers their first title since they’d relocated from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in 1960.
The one group to return near breaking the 33-game profitable streak was LeBron James’ Miami Warmth in 2013, who received 27 straight video games from Feb. 3, 2013, to March 25, 2013. That Warmth staff, with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, additionally received the NBA title that yr.
A couple of years later, Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors received 28 straight common season video games, however divided over two seasons. They received 4 video games to shut the 2014-15 season, after which one other 24 straight to open the 2015-16 season.
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Joe DiMaggio with MLB’s longest hitting streak: 56 video games
Baseball is a sport outlined by statistics and dominated by numbers, and few numbers are extra revered than New York Yankees centerfielder Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak in 1941.
Starting on Could 15, 1941, DiMaggio recorded successful in 56 straight video games, spanning over two months. Over the course of the streak he batted .408, had 15 residence runs and drove in 55 runs.
On July 17, 1941, towards the Cleveland Indians, shortstop Lou Boudreau fielded a groundball and recorded the out that ended DiMaggio’s streak.
Within the greater than 70 years since, no participant has come near DiMaggio’s report. In 1978, the late Pete Rose had a 44-game hitting streak, and in 1987, Milwaukee Brewers infielder Paul Molitor achieved a 39-game streak.
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Eric Dickerson’s NFL single-season dashing report: 2,105 yards
In 1984, in simply his second season within the league, Los Angeles Rams working again Eric Dickerson rumbled to an NFL regular-season dashing report of two,105 yards, a mark that has remarkably stood for greater than 40 years.
Over the course of the 16-game season, the Corridor of Famer averaged 131 yards per recreation and had twelve 100-yard video games.
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Seven working backs have since recorded 2,000-yard seasons. In 2012, Minnesota Vikings working again Adrian Peterson got here inside 9 yards of breaking Dickerson’s report, falling simply brief with 2,097 yards.
The NFL elevated the common season from 16 to 17 video games in 2021, making it extra possible Dickerson’s mark may sometime fall.
This previous January, Philadelphia Eagles working again Saquon Barkley went into the staff’s last regular-season recreation sitting on 2,005 dashing yards and an opportunity to interrupt Dickerson’s report. Nonetheless, Eagles head coach Nick Siriani selected to relaxation Barkley in preparation for the playoffs. A transfer that paid off when the Eagles won the Super Bowl about 5 weeks later.
UConn with the longest profitable streak in faculty basketball: 111 video games
Arguably, no staff has eclipsed a sport fairly like UConn has eclipsed girls’s faculty basketball this century.
From 2000 to 2016, UConn below head coach Geno Auriemma received 10 of his 11 NCAA titles with the college. And starting in 2000, UConn performed in 21 of a attainable 26 Ultimate Fours.
However it’s the 111-game profitable streak that started in November 2014 and was damaged in March 2017 that’s most staggering.
In the course of the two-and-a-half yr profitable streak, UConn received 4 consecutive NCAA titles.
The 111-game streak, the longest in faculty basketball historical past, ended in dramatic fashion within the Ultimate 4 on March 31, 2017, when Mississippi State’s Morgan William hit a buzzer-beater in additional time to shock UConn 66-64. Mississippi State went on to lose within the championship recreation to South Carolina.
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And even with the loss to Mississippi State, UConn additionally had a 126-game common season streak that began in November 2014 and lasted greater than 4 years via January 2019.
UConn’s dominance below Auriemma has drawn comparisons to the UCLA males’s basketball staff below John Picket, which received 10 titles in 12 seasons between 1964 and 1975. Throughout that period, UCLA had an 88-game profitable streak of its personal from 1971 to 1974.
