who has the most career empty net goals by a defensman

Alex Ovechkin has the most career goals against empty nets, with 72 goals.

	NAME	ENG	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	PPA	SHG	SHA	GWG	OTG	S	S%	FOW	FO	FOW%	HIT	BKS	TKA	GVA	TOI/GP
1	Alex Ovechkin A. Ovechkin	72	1,573	929	758	1,687	+55	857	331	291	5	1	141	27	7,108	13.1	66	194	34.0	3,876	579	793	1,251	20:27
2	Wayne Gretzky W. Gretzky	56	1,487	894	1,963	2,857	+520	577	204	686	73	76	91	2	5,088	17.6
3	Brad Marchand B. Marchand	41	1,152	451	583	1,034	+269	1,151	90	177	36	23	85	22	2,949	15.3	269	696	38.6	1,075	397	690	1,002	18:01
4	Marian Hossa M. Hossa	40	1,309	525	609	1,134	+245	628	143	231	34	12	85	15	4,229	12.4	64	187	34.2	1,062	395	1,008	668	18:55
5	Sidney Crosby S. Crosby	39	1,420	654	1,107	1,761	+197	898	194	416	4	7	104	26	4,459	14.7	16,437	31,038	53.0	1,241	692	796	1,180	20:36
6	Eric Staal E. Staal	33	1,365	455	608	1,063	-82	854	133	184	21	8	72	5	4,041	11.3	10,063	20,894	48.2	940	558	885	703	19:07
7	Mario Lemieux M. Lemieux	33	915	690	1,033	1,723	+114	834	236	465	49	22	74	11	3,633	19.0	1,414	2,865	49.4	52	45	70	122	22:40
8	Sebastian Aho S. Aho	32	756	310	401	711	+132	342	75	142	22	15	68	18	2,068	15.0	4,370	8,519	51.3	578	225	519	671	19:08
9	Nikita Kucherov N. Kucherov	32	879	401	723	1,124	+200	436	104	297	1	0	65	9	2,712	14.8	10	24	41.7	482	292	475	890	19:07
10	Jarome Iginla J. Iginla	32	1,554	625	675	1,300	+30	1,040	197	231	13	9	101	7	4,759	13.1	2,726	5,238	52.0	1,599	464	610	778	19:56
11	Brandon Hagel B. Hagel	31	446	161	210	371	+66	291	18	34	6	11	21	3	1,024	15.7	115	308	37.3	347	262	296	302	18:22
12	John Tavares J. Tavares	31	1,266	525	660	1,185	-49	549	167	224	3	3	86	20	3,941	13.3	12,110	22,394	54.1	962	533	879	1,131	19:13
13	Blake Wheeler B. Wheeler	31	1,172	321	622	943	+67	764	59	196	14	10	49	5	2,955	10.9	808	1,766	45.8	1,353	723	552	523	18:11
14	Kyle Connor K. Connor	30	694	323	351	674	-9	155	72	113	9	2	65	14	2,193	14.7	25	75	33.3	210	220	387	410	19:49
15	Jake Guentzel J. Guentzel	30	681	306	353	659	+100	317	74	105	4	1	41	7	1,930	15.9	521	1,120	46.5	667	367	302	353	19:22
16	Mikko Rantanen M. Rantanen	30	716	316	466	782	+91	501	109	179	0	0	48	5	1,979	16.0	1,028	2,033	50.6	458	375	416	424	20:24
17	Zach Parise Z. Parise	30	1,254	434	455	889	+76	444	125	133	11	10	83	9	3,776	11.5	412	975	42.3	995	767	612	418	17:49
18	Nathan MacKinnon N. MacKinnon	29	950	420	722	1,142	+230	428	113	243	2	2	76	15	3,842	10.9	6,220	13,295	46.8	661	509	483	808	20:40
19	Steven Stamkos S. Stamkos	29	1,245	622	631	1,253	-8	737	241	226	5	3	101	17	3,709	16.8	7,119	14,046	50.7	1,327	563	524	727	19:00
20	Joe Thornton J. Thornton	29	1,714	430	1,109	1,539	+182	1,272	146	402	6	6	68	9	3,067	14.0	12,730	24,107	52.8	1,142	498	1,225	1,527	19:18
21	Connor McDavid C. McDavid	28	793	409	807	1,216	+183	318	100	316	9	10	76	17	2,710	15.1	4,383	9,155	47.9	573	310	694	785	21:52
22	Artemi Panarin A. Panarin	28	829	330	624	954	+141	242	79	209	0	1	51	10	2,275	14.5	13	59	22.0	233	156	440	750	19:47
23	Patrick Kane P. Kane	28	1,369	508	892	1,400	-1	470	140	325	0	1	85	14	4,402	11.5	333	861	38.7	356	322	728	781	19:56
24	Patrice Bergeron P. Bergeron	28	1,294	427	613	1,040	+289	496	131	195	22	26	81	9	3,974	10.7	15,182	26,206	57.9	1,032	879	845	469	18:41
25	Pavel Bure P. Bure	28	702	437	342	779	+42	484	121	115	34	15	59	6	3,130	14.0	3	17	17.6	76	70	148	222	24:37

Unlock 2x data

StatMuse has season-level data for empty-net goals going back to the 1933-34 season.

More Capitals Stats

Team Leaders

32

Ovechkin

39

Strome

+/-

+20

Chychrun

Team Rankings

G/GP

3.18

15th

GA/GP

2.90

9th

PP%

17.8

25th

PK%

80.2

14th

2025-26 Division Standings

TEAM	W	L	OTL	PTS	DIFF
Hurricanes	53	22	7	113	56
Flyers	43	27	12	98	7
Penguins	41	25	16	98	25
Capitals	43	30	9	95	19
Blue Jackets	40	30	12	92	0
Islanders	43	34	5	91	-8
Devils	42	37	3	87	-24
Rangers	34	39	9	77	-12

Last Game

Capitals

43 - 30 - 9

Final

Blue Jackets

40 - 30 - 12

Tue 14 Apr 2026

NHL 2025-26 Leaders

Goals Leaders

53

MacKinnon

51

Caufield

48

McDavid

Assists Leaders

86

McDavid

86

Kucherov

74

MacKinnon

Points Leaders

134

McDavid

130

Kucherov

127

MacKinnon

Hits Leaders

413

Trenin

338

Sherwood

302

Cuylle

Blocks Leaders

190

McCabe

188

Dobson

182

Clarke

Wins Leaders

39

Vasilevskiy

38

Vejmelka

35

Oettinger

Goals Against Leaders

2.07

Wedgewood

2.31

Vasilevskiy

2.42

Vladar

Save Percentage Leaders

.920

Wedgewood

.915

Wallstedt

.912

Thompson

NHL 2025-26 Rankings

Goals Rankings

3.65

3.55

3.54

Goals Against Rankings

2.43

2.71

2.79

Power Play Rankings

30.1

28.6

25.2

Penalty Kill Rankings

84.5

83.7

82.6

NHL 2025-26 Betting

Best Record ATS

54-28

52-30

48-33

48-34

47-35

Worst Record ATS

30-52

30-51

31-51

32-50

33-49

34-48

NHL 2025-26 Standings

Central Division	W	L	OTL	PTS	DIFF
Avalanche - p	54	16	11	119	97
Stars - x	50	20	12	112	53
Wild - x	46	24	12	104	32
Mammoth - x	43	32	6	92	30
Predators - e	38	33	10	86	-21
Blues - e	36	33	12	84	-29
Jets - e	35	34	12	82	-24
Blackhawks - e	29	39	14	72	-62
Pacific Division	W	L	OTL	PTS	DIFF
Golden Knights - y	39	26	17	95	15
Oilers - x	40	30	11	91	8
Ducks - x	42	33	6	90	-16
Kings - x	35	26	20	90	-20
Sharks - e	38	35	8	84	-46
Kraken - e	34	36	11	79	-35
Flames - e	33	39	9	75	-49
Canucks - e	25	48	8	58	-95

Atlantic Division	W	L	OTL	PTS	DIFF
Sabres - y	50	23	9	109	47
Lightning - x	50	26	6	106	59
Canadiens - x	48	24	10	106	27
Bruins - x	45	27	10	100	22
Senators - x	44	27	11	99	32
Red Wings - e	41	31	10	92	-17
Panthers - e	40	38	4	84	-25
Maple Leafs - e	32	36	14	78	-46
Metropolitan Division	W	L	OTL	PTS	DIFF
Hurricanes - z	53	22	7	113	56
Penguins - x	41	25	16	98	25
Flyers - x	43	27	12	98	7
Capitals - e	43	30	9	95	19
Blue Jackets - e	40	30	12	92	0
Islanders - e	43	34	5	91	-8
Devils - e	42	37	3	87	-24
Rangers - e	34	39	9	77	-12