Reactions to Alex Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL career goals record

Alex Ovechkin scoring his 895th career goal to break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record reverberated quickly around hockey, sports and the rest of the world.

Here are some of the reactions:

“It was my honor to hold the National Hockey League goals record for the last three decades. I now am delighted to pass that honor to a man who truly was born to put the puck in the net and who has played our game with remarkable passion and power. I forever will be grateful for the way my idol, Gordie Howe, congratulated me upon breaking his record in 1994. And I am thrilled that I could be in attendance to share this moment with you, Alex, as you now are the leading goal-scorer in NHL history.” — Wayne Gretzky

“Salute to you, brother.” — NBA all-time scoring leader LeBron James

“Alex Ovechkin has been an unstoppable force from the moment he entered the NHL in 2005 — a unique package of effervescent personality, dynamic physicality and other-worldly talent for shooting the puck. His passion for winning is matched only by his incredible ability to score goals. And today, he stands alone.” — NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman

"You are an amazing goal-scorer. I’ve watched you for years and admired your skill and your competitiveness. To reach this milestone and pass Wayne Gretzky, which is something nobody thought possible, truly is special. — Mark Howe, son of Gordie Howe

“With 895 goals to Alex’s name, ALL scored wearing a Capitals jersey, the GR8 Chase is officially over… and what a journey it’s been! (Ovechkin’s) accomplishments as an athlete and person, and his unbreakable connection to this team, this city and this fanbase are nothing short of remarkable. What an important moment in history for Alex, his family and the entire D.C. community.” — Capitals owner Ted Leonsis

“It’s been an honor to compete against you all these years. Over that time you’ve accomplished so many milestones. But this one was probably thought to be impossible and you found a way to do it.” — Penguins captain Sidney Crosby

“I’m glad that I was able to help you break that record along the way.” — Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy

“Just amazing.” — Montreal Canadiens coach and Hall of Fame winger Martin St. Louis

“I loved the way that you’ve done it: your way. You’ve done it with style, you’ve done it with passion and you’ve done it with joy. Just so proud of you.” — Former Capitals coach and current Nashville Predators general manager Barry Trotz

"At one time, Gretzky’s record seemed like an unreachable summit. And to reach it, you need to be exactly that sort of great forward which Ovechkin has been for all these years and remains. Alexander is the face of our hockey and of our sports as a whole, a person who the country is proud of. … I would like to wish Ovechkin to play for as long as he wants and to set all kinds of new records. He is a unique person, capable of displaying an amazing game at 39 years old and dominating games against the strongest of opponents. He embodies the power of our sport, of our great country. — Soviet Union goaltender and Russian Hockey Federation president Vladislav Tretiak

“Alex Ovechkin has been such a consistent goal scorer for this, his 20th season, is an amazing accomplishment and establishing a new record that most hockey people believed would never occur.” — All-time coaching wins leader and nine-time Stanley Cup-winning coach Scotty Bowman

"Now this record will stand for 100 years at a minimum. However maybe my grandson Filipp will be able to break this record, but he is a year and a half old now. The NHL record has been set by our Russian guy, Alexander Ovechkin, I congratulate all of us on this. In this complex political time, seeing such things is worth a lot, let’s enjoy the moment. I wish Sasha further success in his life and hockey career, everything should work out for him.” — Hall of Fame defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov

“It's impressive the way Ovi's been able to be so consistent throughout the years and still producing at the highest level, and he's turning 40 this year. It's really remarkable.” — Hall of Fame defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom

“I’m amazed that it got broken, and how quickly he did it. That was one I thought would never be broken. It’s incredible. To have 40 goals in the late 30s is phenomenal.” — Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman, who is 10th on the career goals list with 692

"I won’t lie, when Wayne retired, no one thought any of his records would be touched. And seeing him doing it in the same number of games, it’s pretty impressive in today’s game. ... Ovi deserves a lot of credit for what he’s been doing.” — Hall of Fame goaltender and New York Islanders coach Patrick Roy

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL

Russian fans celebrate Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin's 895th career goal of an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders in a sports bar in Moscow, Russia, on Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

Wayne Gretzky, left, and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman react as they watch during the second period of an NHL hockey game between Washington Capitals and New York Islanders in Elmont, N.Y., Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8), right, poses for a photo with Wayne Gretzky during a ceremony after he scored his 895th career goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against New York Islanders in Elmont, N.Y., Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, right, is greeted by Wayne Gretzky during a ceremony after he scored his 895th career goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against New York Islanders in Elmont, N.Y., Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, right, stands on the ice during a ceremony after he scored his 895th career goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against New York Islanders in Elmont, N.Y., Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — A wave of Israeli strikes across Gaza on Sunday hit a hospital, a municipal building, a home and a vehicle, killing at least 21 people, including children, as Israel vowed to expand its security presence in the small coastal strip.

A predawn strike on Al-Ahli Hospital, in Gaza City, was the latest of several attacks on the last major hospital providing critical healthcare in northern Gaza.

Hospital director Dr. Fadel Naim said the emergency room, pharmacy and surrounding buildings were severely damaged, affecting over 100 patients and dozens of staff. He said in a post on X they had been warned in advance.

One patient, a girl, died during the evacuation because staff were unable to provide urgent care, Gaza's Health Ministry said.

Al-Ahli Hospital is run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which condemned the attack, saying in a statement it occurred on “Palm Sunday, the start of the Holy Week, the most sacred week of the Christian year.” Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.

Israel said it struck a command and control center used by Hamas at the hospital, without providing evidence. Hamas in a statement denied the allegations.

Associated Press video showed the hospital’s caved-in roof surrounded by debris. The health ministry’s director general, Dr. Munir al-Boursh, said patients had been carried outside in beds and slept in the streets.

“Nothing was left safe. Nothing was left safe inside the hospital, or all over Gaza,” said Mohammad Abu Nasser, an injured man who sat on his bed outdoors and looked at the destruction.

The health ministry said the hospital was temporarily out of service and patients were transferred to other hospitals in Gaza City. The aid group Medical Aid for Palestinians called it the fifth attack on the hospital since the war began.

Hospitals have special protection under international law. Israel has besieged and raided them, some several times, and struck multiple ones while accusing Hamas of using them as cover for its fighters.

Last month Israel struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the largest in southern Gaza, killing two people and causing a large fire, the health ministry said. The facility had been overwhelmed with dead and wounded when Israel ended a two-month ceasefire last month with a surprise wave of airstrikes.

Hours later, a strike on a car in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza killed at least seven people including six brothers, according to staff at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies. The youngest brother was 10.

Their father, Ibrahim Abu Mahadi, said his sons worked for a charity that distributes food to Palestinians. "For what sin were they killed?” he said.

AP reporters saw the mangled, bloodied car as relatives wept over the bodies.

An airstrike Sunday afternoon hit a house in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing at least seven people including two women, according to the Indonesian hospital, which received the bodies. A pregnant woman was rescued from the rubble.

Another strike in Deir al-Balah hit a municipal building Sunday afternoon and killed at least three people, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. In Khan Younis, a strike killed at least three people, according to staff at Nasser Hospital.

Israel's military said in a statement it had struck over 90 militant targets over the past 48 hours including command and control centers, tunnels and weapons. The military also said it had intercepted a projectile fired from Gaza.

The war started when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, during an Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and took 250 people captive. Many were eventually freed in ceasefire deals.

Israeli authorities have vowed to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, 24 believed to be alive, and accept proposed new ceasefire terms. It cut off all supplies to Gaza over a month ago.

More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count but says more than half of the dead have been women and children.

Magdy reported from Cairo.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Volunteers and emergency workers search for bodies and survivors from the rubble of the Manoun family's house after it was targeted by an Israeli army strike in Jabalia al-Balad, Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Volunteers and emergency workers remove a body from the rubble of the Manoun family's house after it was targeted by an Israeli army strike in Jabalia al-Balad, Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Volunteers and emergency workers try to move a concrete pillar as they search for bodies and survivors from the rubble of the Manoun family's house after it was targeted by an Israeli army strike in Jabalia al-Balad, Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Volunteers and emergency workers search for bodies or survivors from the rubble of the Manoun family's house after it was targeted by an Israeli army strike in Jabalia al-Balad, Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Mariam Manoun, who is pregnant, id rescued for her family's house after it was targeted by an Israeli army strike in Jabalia al-Balad, Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A dead man is removed from the rubble of the Manoun family's house after it was targeted by an Israeli army strike in Jabalia al-Balad, Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A relative mourn over the body of Abdullah Habbash before his funeral, along with six brothers from the Abu Mahadi family, all members of a Palestinian charity organization linked to Hamas, who were killed earlier in an Israeli army strike on the car they were traveling in, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)"

Relatives mourn over the body of Abdullah Habbash before his funeral, along with the bodies of six brothers from the Abu Mahadi family, all members of a Palestinian charity organization linked to Hamas, who were killed earlier in an Israeli army strike on the car they were traveling in, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)"

Relatives mourn over the body of Abdullah Habbash before his funeral, along with the bodies of six brothers from the Abu Mahadi family, all members of a Palestinian charity organization linked to Hamas, who were killed earlier in an Israeli army strike on the car they were traveling in, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)"

Palestinians look at the wreckage of a car struck earlier by an Israeli army attack that killed at least seven people, six of them the Abu Mahadi brothers, in the outskirts of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians look at the wreckage of a car struck earlier by an Israeli army attack that killed at least seven people, six of them the Abu Mahadi brothers, in the outskirts of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The wreckage of a car struck earlier by an Israeli army attack that killed at least seven people, six of them the Abu Mahadi brothers, sits on the outskirts of Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Relatives mourn over the bodies of Abdullah Habbash, along with the bodies of six brothers from the Abu Mahadi family, all members of a Palestinian charity organization linked to Hamas, who were killed earlier in an Israeli army strike on the car they were traveling in, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)"

Palestinians pray over the bodie of Abdullah Habbash, along with the bodies of six brothers from the Abu Mahadi family, all members of a Palestinian charity organization linked to Hamas, who were killed earlier in an Israeli army strike on the car they were traveling in, during their funeral in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)"

Staff inspects a building of the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist hospital after it was targeted by an Israeli army strike late Saturday following a warning issued by the army to evacuate patients, in Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The outpatient and laboratory wards of the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist hospital are seen after being hit by an Israeli army strike late Saturday, following a warning issued by the army to evacuate patients, in Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The outpatient and laboratory wards of the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist hospital are seen after being hit by an Israeli army strike late Saturday, following a warning issued by the army to evacuate patients, in Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians carry for burial the bodies of Abdullah Habbash and six brothers from the Abu Mahadi family, members of a Palestinian charity organization linked to Hamas, who were killed earlier in an Israeli army strike on the car they were traveling in, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The outpatient and laboratory wards of the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist hospital are seen after being hit by an Israeli army strike late Saturday, following a warning issued by the army to evacuate patients, in Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The outpatient and laboratory wards of the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist hospital are seen after being hit by an Israeli army strike late Saturday, following a warning issued by the army to evacuate patients, in Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A relative mourn over the body of Abdullah Habbash before his funeral, along with six brothers from the Abu Mahadi family, all members of a Palestinian charity organization linked to Hamas, who were killed earlier in an Israeli army strike on the car they were traveling in, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)"

The outpatient and laboratory wards of the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist hospital are seen after being hit by an Israeli army strike late Saturday, following a warning issued by the army to evacuate patients, in Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Khalid Ahmad holds a poster of his 17-year-old son, Waleed, who died in an Israeli prison, that reads in Arabic, "The hero prisoner Martyr, mercy and eternity for our righteous Martyrs," in the West Bank town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

A woman holds a sign as people take part in a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 5,2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Palestinians wait for donated food at a distribution center in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian children receive donated food at a distribution center in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Displaced Palestinians flee from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Displaced Palestinians flee from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Two boys sit on a mattress as they ride on their family car while s fleeing from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)