17hGreg Wyshynski

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Blues’ Binnington tries to hide puck from Ovechkin’s 900th goal

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Blues goaltender sneakily tries to keep puck for Ovechkin’s 900th goal (0:29)

St. Louis Blues’ goaltender Jordan Binnington does his best to swipe the puck for Alex Ovechkin’s 900th career goal. (0:29)

Greg WyshynskiNov 6, 2025, 12:31 AM ET

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Greg Wyshynski is ESPN’s senior NHL writer.

Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin made hockey history Wednesday night, becoming the first NHL player to score 900 career goals. Ovechkin was eventually given that record-setting puck – once St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington stopped hiding it in his pants.

In the second period of the Capitals’ 6-1 rout, Ovechkin intercepted Binnington’s pass to teammate Nathan Walker. The puck eventually found Washington defenseman Jakob Chychrun for a shot from the point that bounced off the end boards. Ovechkin collected the rebound and quickly slid a backhand shot into the Blues’ net for his third goal of the season. The NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer was now its first 900-goal scorer, too.

As the Capitals celebrated with Ovechkin, Binnington nudged the puck out of the net with his stick and picked it up with his goalie glove. He tucked his stick under his arm, pulled his hand out of his blocker and plucked the puck from his glove. He then tucked the disc into the back of his pants, in full view of TNT’s cameras.

Later, linesman Michel Cormier had a discussion with Binnington in his crease, after which the Blues goalie reached back into his pants and handed the 900th goal puck to the official.

Ovechkin posed for photos with the milestone puck in the Capitals’ locker room after the game.

Binnington gave up four goals on 15 shots against Washington and was pulled at 9:28 of the second period. He didn’t speak after the game.

The situation wasn’t addressed by his teammates or coach Jim Montgomery, who said the Capitals were fueled by Ovechkin’s historic moment in the second period.

“I think it had a lot to do with their success. For us, we didn’t handle the moment well enough, that’s for sure,” he said.

Ovechkin said he was aware his history-making puck had to be retrieved from Binnington’s pants.

“Yeah, I just saw it. I’m not going to comment,” he said.

Capitals goalie Logan Thompson didn’t see Binnington swipe the puck but was willing to give his counterpart the benefit of the doubt.

“I was just so happy that ‘O’ got it. don’t know, maybe he was trying to grab it to give it to him. Who knows?” said Thompson, who made 23 saves in the win.

Ovechkin was relieved to get No. 900 and make history.

“A couple of days ago somebody asked me about, ‘Do you think about it?’ Of course. It’s a huge number. No one ever did it in NHL history and be the first player ever do it is a special moment,” he said.