The Washington Capitals welcomed captain Alexander Ovechkin again into the lineup this previous weekend for the primary time in over a month resulting from a lower-body damage. Regardless of lacking their on-ice chief for a month, Washington proved itself as one of many high groups within the NHL. The Capitals continued to roll with a profitable file over that time-frame.
Throughout the weekend’s back-to-back highway video games, Ovechkin scored twice for Washington, shifting nearer to Wayne Gretzky’s 894-goal milestone. Because the file chase resumes, Ovechkin and his Capitals will get an opportunity to impress the house followers with a handful of video games at Capital One Enviornment getting into the New Yr.
Capitals Efficiently Survived Ovechkin’s Absence
After departing the highway recreation towards the Utah Hockey Membership on Nov. 18, Ovechkin missed 16 video games over 5 weeks with a damaged leg between the top of November and most of December. Throughout that point, the Capitals nonetheless carried out like the most effective groups within the NHL, with a 10-5-1 file, together with a 6-3-0 highway mark. Washington’s goaltenders, 31-year-old Charlie Lindgren and 27-year-old Logan Thompson, did a lot of the heavy lifting by holding pucks out of the online throughout the stretch.
On the offensive facet of the puck, Spencer Carbury’s crew scored 59 objectives over these 16 video games with out Ovechkin, which is 3.68 objectives per recreation. Washington’s 2024-25 season common, together with time with Ovechkin, is third-best within the NHL at 3.67 objectives per recreation.
Ovechkin Nets Two Targets in Washington’s Weekend Video games
The Capitals accomplished a three-game swing by the Atlantic Division with a weekend win towards the Toronto Maple Leafs and a loss to the Detroit Crimson Wings. Ovechkin scored his sixteenth purpose of the season into an empty internet in his return to the lineup to cap off a 5-2 win over the Maple Leafs. After the sport, Ovechkin advised the media he was thrilled to get again on the field rating. “Yeah, it’s good to be again on the board,” Washington’s captain stated. “We performed the best manner. I’ll take it.”
“It is good to be again on the board.”
Alex Ovechkin discusses his return to recreation motion and scoring his 869th profession purpose in tonight’s victory over Toronto.#CapsLeafs pic.twitter.com/YLZQrAMmaE
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 29, 2024
The subsequent evening, Ovechkin fired a puck previous Crimson Wings goaltender Alex Lyon in a 4-2 Washington loss for his seventeenth purpose celebration of the season. The purpose was the 870th lamplighter of Ovechkin’s profession. That positioned Washington’s famous person ahead simply 25 objectives in need of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s file at 894 regular-season objectives with 46 video games left within the Capitals’ season.
Upcoming Schedule for Ovechkin
The Capitals will play 5 of its subsequent six video games at dwelling over the subsequent two weeks, with a one-game highway journey versus the Buffalo Sabres within the center. Washington welcomes the Boston Bruins, Minnesota Wild, and New York Rangers to the Nation’s Capital earlier than heading to Northern New York to face the Sabres. This season, the Capitals have averaged 3.59 objectives per recreation in Washington.
Associated: Alex Ovechkin May Break Wayne Gretzky’s Aim File in Early 2025
Ovechkin has carried out higher away from dwelling this season. The Russian winger has scored 11 objectives in ten highway contests whereas lifting Capitals followers out of their seats six occasions at dwelling over the identical variety of video games. Outdoors of Minnesota (sixth) and Boston (14th), 4 of the six groups on Washington’s upcoming schedule rank within the backside half of the league in objectives allower per recreation – New York (seventeenth), Buffalo (twenty sixth), Vancouver Canucks (twenty second), and Montreal Canadiens (twenty eighth). These matchups might permit Ovechkin to get rolling, like in November when he was the NHL’s main scorer earlier than his premature damage.
Washington returns to the frozen flooring tomorrow for a New Yr’s Eve afternoon contest towards the Bruins at 12:30 p.m. EST at Capital One Enviornment for the Capitals’ remaining recreation of the 2024 calendar yr.
