Alex Ovechkin passes Sergei Fedorov to become top Russian goal scorer

Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin is now the most prolific Russian goal scorer in NHL history.

His third-period goal in Thursday night's 3-2 loss to the visitingDallas Stars was the 484th of his career, giving him the most goals in NHL history by a Russian-born player. Sergei Fedorov was the previous record-holder.

Ovechkin scored goal No. 484 in his 777th career game, compared to the 1,248 career NHL games Fedorov needed to reach 483. That Ovechkin was able to achieve it in a considerably shorter span than the Hall of Famer shows the place he's carving in hockey history.

"I would like to congratulate Alex on this achievement," Fedorov said of his former Capitals teammate in a statement released by the organization. "What he has accomplished thus far in his career has been nothing short of remarkable."

Ovechkin had gone four games without a goal and missed several chances Thursday before connecting for his ninth of the season.

"Sooner or later I knew it was going to come," he said.

Both Ovechkin and Fedorov tallied their record-breaking goals for the Caps against Dallas.

"It's pretty crazy. When you take a step back and think about it, he's scored more goals than any Russian hockey player ever, and he's only 30 years old," Capitals defenseman Taylor Chorney said. "You know he's going to score a ton more goals and he's going to run away with that record."

Capitals coach Barry Trotz expressed his admiration as well.

"You'll see me jump 4 feet," he said. "Actually about 4 inches. It was pretty exciting for everybody because they knew that was a little bit of history."

Nicklas Backstrom assisted on Ovechkin's record-setting goal, just as he had on the goal Fedorov scored when he passed Alexander Mogilny for the top spot.

"Apparently I like Russians," the Swedish-born Backstrom said after the game.

Stars coach Lindy Ruff was happy to escape with the win against Ovechkin.

"We sent our most physical forward after him, and he mowed him over," Ruff said. "A lot of admiration for the way he plays. He plays the game hard. There's probably only one guy that can score some of the goals that he scored. He's got probably the best shot from that off side. I don't think anybody has scored as many goals as he has from over there. And he can be dynamic on the rush, too. He's the total package. I'm glad we only play him one more time this year."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.