Alex Ovechkin's most memorable goal ever? Every one against the Rangers

Hockey's relatively new god of goal-scoring pulled off another first Wednesday night. Alex Ovechkin's second-period tally against the St. Louis Blues made him the first player in NHL history to eclipse 900 goals.

Alex Ovechkin is a familiar Rangers foe

That's in 1,504 regular season games, which means he's scored well over a goal in ever other game of his 21-season (and counting) career. After the game, the "Great 8" briefly joined TNT's hockey crew, which currently includes two former New York Rangers; Anson Carter and Henrik Lundqvist. Judging by the huge smile on Ovechkin's face when he realized Lundqvist was asking him a question, he probably had already decided what he was going to say next.

Twenty one seasons in the league will teach you a thing or two. One of those golden rules is that it's a lot of fun to poke Rangers fans. So much so, he might not even be joking.

The 40-year-old Russian phenom has played nearly one full season's worth of games against the Rangers over the course of regular season career. During that 77-game campaign, he's scored a whopping 46 goals, including 24 against Lundqvist. That's tied for the most a single player has scored against the legendary goaltender. I'll give you one guess who he's tied with.

A pair of legends have tormented the Rangers

Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby came into the league together and have pitted against each other in just about every way ever since. So, it shouldn't be a surprise the duo are considered by far the two greatest villains at Madison Square Garden this millennium and it's been a back-and-forth fight to ultimately win the cold, black hearts of New Yorkers. However, looking back on the bodies of work now, it seems clear to me who has come closest to scaling Mt. Hater. No one over the past quarter-century has made the Rangers look silly more than Alex Ovechkin.

The Rangers are on the receiving end of three of the top eight goals in that ranking, but Ovechkin's case is truly made in the postseason.

He and his Capitals have squared off in 37 games, spanning six series over the course of his long career, four of which were decided in seven games. Ovi's first meeting with the Rangers back in 2009 was also the first of those seven game series. It was also the first lasting humiliation he wrought upon the franchise. After falling behind three games to one in the first round matchup, Washington storm back to win the final three games of series. A series where Ovechkin notched a goal in each of Games 4 through 6 and tallied seven points total. two years later, the Capitals dispatched of the Rangers again, this time in just five games. Ovechkin banked another six points in that series.

The next three series between the teams will go down as a microcosm of the entirety of the Rangers-Capitals rivalry. Each had to be decided in seven games, and spawned several of the biggest moments in modern Rangers history. In the end, the Rangers somehow came out victorious in all three series, though the Capitals' captain certainly got his licks in. In addition to those regular season numbers, he's tacked on another 13 goals and 10 assists against New York in the playoffs. It also appears he's gotten the last laugh because, in those 21 seasons, only one of the two sides has hoisted the cup.

The best villains are ones you love to hate, but that's only part of the formula. A great villain also needs to be worthy of your hatred. We hate him because somewhere deep inside each of us, we secretly admire him the same way his fans do. We secretly lament the reality that we never got the thrill to watch him play for our team, and that makes us hate him more, but any Rangers fan who looks you in eye and says he's not impressed with Alex Ovechkin- his talent, his work ethic, his fearlessness, his heartbreakingly New York attitude- is lying to themselves more than they're lying to you.

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Given the current state of the New York Rangers, I thought I'd go ahead and add my own insult to injury and show you where Ovechkin would slot in on the Rangers in terms of production so far in his 21st NHL season:

Okay, I hate him again. BRANDON, DEAL WITH THIS PLEASE.