During the Washington Capitals’ 50-year history, several players recorded their 1,000th point in a Capitals uniform. These players included players who played the entirety of their career with the Capitals as well as players acquired from elsewhere.
The players achieving their 1,000th point with the Washington Capitals in consecutive order, were
- Adam Oates
- Phil Housley
- Dale Hunter
- Brian Bellows
- Alex Ovechkin
- Nicklas Backstrom
Three of those players, Adam Oates, Phil Housley and Dale Hunter achieved the milestone during the 1997-98 season, which was notable for being the season where the Capitals reached the Stanley Cup Finals. Going into the 1997-98 season, Oates needed four points to reach the millennial mark, Housley needed ten points, and Hunter needed 17 points.
Adam Oates
Photo: John McDonnell The Washington Post
In 1997-98, Oates played in his first full season with the Capitals as a 35-year-old and was their top center. They acquired him from the Boston Bruins on March 1, 1997. He immediately started accumulating points, with one assist in the team’s opener and two more assists in the team’s third game.
On October 8, 1997, he needed just one point to reach the 1,000-point milestone when the Capitals faced the New York Islanders on the road in their fourth game of the season. At 5:23 in the first period, he scored a shorthanded goal which gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead and Oates his 1,000th point. Oates went on to score two more goals to complete a hat trick. He also recorded two assists as the Capitals went on to win 6-3 for their fourth consecutive victory.
Oates became the 47th player in league history to score 1,000 career points and was the first to do it in a Washington Capitals uniform.
Phil Housley
Photo: Getty Images
In 1997-98, Housley played in his second season with the Capitals as a 33-year-old offensive defenseman. The Capitals signed him as a free agent on July 22, 1996. He steadily accumulated points during October and early November, scoring one goal and recording eight assists.
Going into their game against the Edmonton Oilers on November 8, 1997, Housley was at 999 points. At 4:07 in the first period, the Capitals were on a five-on-three power play when center Adam Oates passed the puck to Housley, who passed it from the point to fellow blueliner Calle Johansson at the opposite point. Johansson then blasted a slapshot which resulted in a goal, his seventh of the year to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead. This secondary assist gave Housley his 1000th NHL point.
Housley was only the fifth NHL defenseman to reach that milestone and the first American-born defenseman to do so. The other four rearguards to reach the milestone – Dennis Potvin, Raymond Bourque, Paul Coffey, and Larry Murphy – had all been Canadian. The Capitals won the game 2-1 in a game noted an altercation between Capitals forward, Chris Simon, and Mike Grier, then of the Oilers.
Dale Hunter
Photo: Getty Images
In 1997-98, Hunter played in his 11th season with the Capitals. The Capitals acquired him in an off-season trade with the Quebec Nordiques on June 13, 1987. He was appointed as the Capitals captain before the 1994-95 season when the “lockout of 1994” had ended. He was usually a top center who could score goals and dish out assists. By the 1997-98 season, when Hunter was now 37 years old, his productivity in scoring goals and dishing out assists had declined from his peak years.
That season, going into a home game on January 9, 1998, against the Philadelphia Flyers, he was three shy of 1,000 points, as he had scored five goals and had recorded nine assists during the 1997-98 season so far.
In that game, Hunter got to work during the second period. At 3:11, Hunter intercepted a clearing attempt by Flyers defenseman Chris Therien. He then passed to forward Peter Bondra, who scored his 27th goal of the season; forward Craig Berube was credited with the secondary assist. This put the Capitals up 2-1 over Philadelphia. Less than a minute later, at 4:03, Washington rearguard Mark Tinordi scored his eighth goal of the season on assists by Berube and Hunter, giving the hosts a 3-1 lead.
Hunter completed his hat trick of assists at 18:21 into that same period. Hunter passed to Berube who received a pass from Hunter and then made a 40-foot slapshot which went into the net to increase the Capitals’ lead to 4-1 which was the final score. This third assist was Hunter’s 1000th NHL point. Hunter’s achievement of 1,000 points in the 1997-98 season marked the first season where three players on the same team had achieved that milestone.
Brian Bellows
Photo: Getty Images
While left-wing Brian Bellows was a part of the Capitals Stanley Cup finalist team of 1997-98, he earned his 1,000th NHL point the following season. The Capitals signed him on March 20, 1997, as a free agent so that he could help them in their playoff drive. When the 1997-98 season ended, he had 986 NHL points.
Before the Capitals game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on the road on January 2, 1999, Bellows was two points shy of 1,000 points, with five goals and seven assists. During the second period at 11:39, Bellows scored his sixth goal of the season, getting assists from Jeff Toms and Dmitry Mironov which was NHL point #999. Bellows had shot into an empty net when Toronto goaltender, Curtis Joseph, was more focused on the pass from Toms. This broke a 1-1 tie and put the Capitals up 2-1. He earned his 1,000th NHL point during third period, when he helped set up Jeff Toms’ goal at 3:34 which put the Capitals up 4-1 at that time. The final score was 5-2 in favor of the Capitals.
Bellows discussed his milestone, saying, “It’s a night I’ll remember. It was gratifying that it came on a good play and not a second assist. And it’s nice to do it with some friends and family in the stands.” Bellows was a native of St. Catherine’s, Ontario, which is not far from Toronto. As it turned out, the 1998-99 season, when he was 34 years of age, was Bellows’ last in the NHL.
Alex Ovechkin
Alex Ovechkin was the first member of the Washington Capitals to record his 1,000th NHL point and 1,000th with the franchise. He achieved that milestone on January 11, 2016, at age 30, when the Capitals played the Pittsburgh Penguins at home. He scored his 20th goal of the season just 35 seconds into the first period, putting the Capitals ahead 1-0. He was assisted by Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie. The Capitals went on to win that game 5-2. Not long after that, the Capitals honored him for achieving that milestone.
Nicklas Backstrom
Photo: Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images
Nicklas Backstrom was the second member of the Washington Capitals to record his 1000th NHL point and 1000th with the franchise. He achieved that milestone on March 9, 2022 at age 34 in a game between the Capitals and the Edmonton Oilers, when he assisted on a power play goal scored by T.J Oshie at the 6:13 mark of the third period that tied the score at 2-2. Earlier in the game, he had scored a goal for point #999. He was the first player from the draft class of 2006 to record 1000 points. The Capitals ultimately lost the game in overtime by a 4-3 score. The Capitals honored Backstrom for this achievement on March 26, 2022.
By Diane Doyle
