Henrik Lundqvist and Alex Ovechkin arrived in the NHL together. Both made their debuts in 2005-06, both were immediately among the best in the world at what they did, and both spent the next 15 years in the same division. With Ovechkin having announced this will be his final season, Lundqvist was asked what that rivalry actually meant.
“He’s been such a big part of the game. Obviously, throughout my career, he was the biggest challenge I ever faced, from my entire career,” Lundqvist said. “I just had terrible timing. I came up against the best goalscorer of all time my entire career.”
How many goals did Ovechkin score on Lundqvist?
Few goaltenders have a better claim to the complaint. A TNT panel put the question to Lundqvist earlier this year as a piece of trivia, asking him to name the players who had scored most often against him. The answer was Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, tied on 24 apiece, with Evgeni Malkin sitting just behind them on 20.
They also met five times in the playoffs, with Lundqvist’s Rangers winning three of the series. The 2015 second round was the signature one, New York recovering from 3-1 down while Lundqvist posted a .946 save percentage and a 1.46 goals-against average. The 2009 opener went the other way for Ovechkin, who fired 49 shots at Lundqvist across seven games and beat him three times.
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Lundqvist, who retired with 459 wins and a Vezina Trophy and entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2023, was warmer about the man than the matchup.
“When you think about the game over the last 20 years, Alex Ovechkin has been such a huge part of it,” he said. “His personality, his smile with the missing tooth, and the amazing goals he’s scored.”
He also admitted to some nerves about what the league looks like without him.
“You’re always a little anxious to see, okay, how’s the game going to move forward without one of their biggest stars?” Lundqvist said. “But having said that, there’s so many great players entering the league right now, there’s so much excitement about the young kids coming into the league. We’re in a great place, but he will be missed when he’s done.”
Ovechkin confirmed on Monday that 2026-27 will be his last NHL season. He has 929 goals in 1,575 games, and Lundqvist still sits on the unflattering end of more of them than any other goaltender.
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