On March 23, 1994, Wayne Gretzky scored his 802nd career goal to pass Gordie Howe as the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer. The record-breaking tally came against the Vancouver Canucks, tying the game in the second period on the power play off a feed from Marty McSorley. The Kings lost 6-3 but that didn't take away from what Gretzky accomplished.

Part of what makes Alex Ovechkin’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal-scoring record so compelling is that the two players are polar opposites in some ways yet stunningly similar in others.