With his 46th goal of the season on Monday, Alex Ovechkin scored his 29th career empty-net goal. Oftentimes, empty-netters are great way to pad stats, especially now that teams are pulling their netminders with multiple goal deficits, and earlier in the period. This is in contrast to the pull the goalie with a minute left to play in a one-goal game strategy that lasted for decades.
Ovechkin’s empty net goal total, however, is only about 5 percent of his goals, so he’d still be the best goal scorer in the last 20 years if he didn’t get those pot-shots at the net.