On November 18th, Alex Ovechkin was injured in a game against the Utah Hockey Club. He entered in a knee-on-knee collision with an opponent, taking him out of the game and forcing him to miss several weeks.
In breaking news, the Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery revealed that Ovi is set to come back to the lineup tonight for the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Per Elliotte Friedman:
Ovi, 39, scored 25 points, including 15 goals, in 18 games this season before being injured.
He only needs 26 more goals to tie Wayne Gretzky's goal record.
With the way his team has been playing without him, he shouldn't have any trouble reaching that mark this season.
The Caps are only three points behind the New Jersey Devils in the Metropolitan Division standings but have four games in hand over their rivals.
Since Ovi stepped away, the team has kept its rhythm, boasting a 10-6 record without its captain. Now, near the half mark of the season, they have a 23-9-2 record.
As for the Leafs, they will once again be without their captain Auston Matthews, who's been dealing with an injury for most of the season.
However, that didn't stop them from beating the Detroit Red Wings and their new head coach Todd McLellan 5-2, thanks to Mitch Marner's hat trick.
After the Leafs, the Red Wings will be the Caps' next opponents. It'll be interesting to see how Ovi fares in these back-to-back games considering he hasn't played a game in the past six weeks.
G | A | PTS | ||
Quinton Byfield | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Vince Dunn | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Jack Roslovic | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Nikolaj Ehlers | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
Warren Foegele | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
Nikita Kucherov | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
Brayden Point | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
Seth Jarvis | - | 3 | 3 | |
Nazem Kadri | - | 3 | 3 | |
Brock Boeser | 2 | - | 2 | |
Casey Cizikas | 2 | - | 2 | |
Kirby Dach | 2 | - | 2 | |
Jonathan Huberdeau | 2 | - | 2 | |
Anders Lee | 2 | - | 2 | |
Jaden Schwartz | 2 | - | 2 | |
Sebastian Aho | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Jakob Chychrun | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Anthony Cirelli | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Jake Debrusk | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Complete stats |
STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Golden Knights | 35 | 24 | 8 | 3 | 51 | |
Jets | 36 | 25 | 10 | 1 | 51 | |
Devils | 38 | 24 | 11 | 3 | 51 | |
Capitals | 34 | 23 | 9 | 2 | 48 | |
Wild | 36 | 22 | 10 | 4 | 48 | |
Maple Leafs | 36 | 22 | 12 | 2 | 46 | |
Panthers | 36 | 22 | 12 | 2 | 46 | |
Oilers | 34 | 21 | 11 | 2 | 44 | |
Avalanche | 37 | 22 | 15 | - | 44 | |
Kings | 34 | 19 | 10 | 5 | 43 | |
Conference | Cumulative |