Some moments in sports feel too perfect to be real.
Last night, Alexander Ovechkin broke the NHL all-time goals record. That alone is history. But the symmetry behind it is what stops you cold.
Wayne Gretzky broke Gordie Howe’s record exactly 31 years ago.
Now, 31 years later, Ovechkin breaks Gretzky’s.
Same record. Same time span. Same number of games played.
You could not script it better. You wouldn’t believe it if it were fiction. But here it is—etched into hockey history with mathematical precision.
Gordie Howe played into his 50s. Gretzky redefined the assist. Ovechkin redefined the finish. Different eras, different styles, same immortality.
Three legends. One timeline. And a reminder that sometimes, the universe really does love a callback.
And by the way—if you took away every goal Wayne ever scored, he would still be the NHL’s all-time points leader on assists alone.
That’s not a record. That’s a different galaxy.