Alex Ovechkin by the numbers: How Capitals star compares to Wayne Gretzky in context

History was made on Friday night at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. Alexander Ovechkin scored twice against the Chicago Blackhawks for career goals No. 893 and No. 894 to tie Wayne Gretzky for most all-time.

'The Great Eight' finally caught up to 'The Great One' after nearly 20 seasons in the NHL. In fact, Ovechkin took one less game than Gretzky to score 894 goals. The latter recorded his final career tally in game No. 1,487 on March 29, 1999. Friday was career contest No. 1,486 for Ovechkin.

Most fans will care only about who sits at the top of the goal-scoring list but true hockey fans know there's a lot more in the record books that separates the two super stars but make no mistake, they've both earned that status in their own rights.

Alexander Ovechkin vs. Wayne Gretzky by the numbers

Ovechkin and Gretzky will undoubtably go down as two of the greatest players to ever step onto the ice in the NHL. But when determining who was the best there are more determinant factors than just goals scored.

Points

Gretzky finished his career with a whopping 2,857 points. The next closest player is the long-since-retired Jaromir Jagr with 1,921 and the next closest active player is Sidney Crosby with 1,678. For context, Ovechkin sits not too far behind Crosby with 1,618.

Assists

Gretzky also tops the list for all-time assists with 1,963, that's 714 ahead of the next closest player (Ron Francis, 1,249). Crosby, again, is the next closest active player with 1,059 while Ovechkin sits well behind five other active players with just 724 and counting. To be fair, Ovechkin has been known to be a scorer and only evolved into a more well-rounded player in recent seasons. His own Capitals teammate, Nicklas Backstrom, has more helpers (762) and he's been sitting on LTIR for the last two years.

Power Play Goals

Ovechkin has topped this list for quite some time now. His 324 tallies on the man-advantage are 50 better than the next best, Dave Andreychuk (274). Despite the now defunct 'Gretzky rule' being designed around his scoring prowess when multiple players were sent to the penalty box, the man himself only has 204 goals in those situations.

Ovechkin and Gretzky are two very different players with ranging variations of dominance across the sport of hockey. Ultimately, games are won by scoring goals and for now, the two are sharing that distinction. But once Ovechkin scores goal No. 895, he'll have yet another category all to himself.