The Detroit Red Wings and the Ottawa Senators went head-to-head in a defensive battle on Wednesday night.
Andreas Athanasiou opened the scoring for the Red Wings at the 11:15 mark of the opening period, but Detroit failed to hold on to the lead the rest of the way as Ryan Dzingel scored his 10th of the season 39 seconds into the third period to force overtime.
Once the extra frame got underway it didn’t last very long as Athanasiou found the back of the net for the second time of the night and he did it in record-tying fashion.
Not only did the 23-year-old London, Ontario native score the game-winning goal just six seconds into overtime, but he ended up tying three other players for the NHL record for fastest overtime goal in the regular season.
Mats Sundin – December 30, 1995
Mats Sundin scored 420 goals in 981 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs and set a lot of records along the way. On December 30, 1995, he broke the NHL record at the time for fastest game-winning goal when he scored six seconds into OT to give Toronto a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Blues. The Bromma, Sweden native finished the night with a goal and a helper.
David Legwand – March 9, 2006
Most people think of David Legwand as the first player to ever get drafted by the Nashville Predators, but they probably don’t know that he shares the NHL record for fastest game-winning goal. On March 9, 2006, the Detroit, Michigan native tied Sundin’s record when he found the back of the net six seconds into OT to give Nashville a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks. The goal was his sixth of the season and he finished the night with a goal and an assist.
Alex Ovechkin – December 15, 2006
We really shouldn’t be surprised that Alexander Ovechkin is on this list considering he has 584 goals in 962 games, but the way he did it was the most impressive of all. On December 15, 2006, Ovechkin scored all three goals in Washington’s 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers to give him 21 goals in 31 games.
