Alex Ovechkin has the opportunity to make NHL history in a milestone game when he and the Washington Capitals play host to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time leading regular-season goal-scorer, needs one tally to reach 900 for his illustrious career. Against Ottawa, he will suit up in his 1,500th regular-season clash.
The 40-year-old left winger is coming off a one-goal, one-assist performance in the Capitals’ 5-1 road victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday. The tally held up as the game-winner, the 137th of Ovechkin’s career. Ovechkin is the record-holder in that category, too.
Washington broke open the clash with a four-goal third period, but nobody was putting much stock in the one-sided final score, knowing the goaltending of Logan Thompson was the difference.
“We just stole two points,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “Logan was fantastic, especially to keep us in it in the first — whatever it was — 40 minutes of the game. I thought we were very fortunate to be leading 1-0 after two (periods). … We’ll take it, but we’re certainly going to need to be a lot better (Saturday).”
Washington has won six of its past seven games.
“We stuck with it,” Capitals forward Dylan Strome said. “It wasn’t pretty, but we got the job done.”
After scoring an insurance goal, Washington forward Tom Wilson has collected four goals and five assists in a five-game point streak.
The Capitals are expected to turn to goaltender Charlie Lindgren for the Saturday game, which would be his third start of the campaign. He is 1-1-0 with a 2.04 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage.
The Senators arrive with a much-needed jolt of confidence after claiming a 2-1 comeback victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday to snap a two-game losing skid.
Ottawa has just two wins in its past seven outings (2-4-1).
“We had to work hard for this win and sometimes it’s going to be like that,” Senators forward Claude Giroux said. “We had everybody playing hard. We were able to get the lead and keep it.”
Goaltender Linus Ullmark made 22 saves in what could be a turning point to the season. The Senators were looking to build off a playoff berth last season, even with captain Brady Tkachuk out of action for at least a month due to surgery on a thumb ligament. However, their defensive play has been wanting.
The Philadelphia victory was the first time this season the Senators held an opponent to two goals or fewer.
“This is closer to our identity as a team, what we saw,” Ottawa forward Lars Eller said. “We faced a little bit of adversity early on, but we were able to find a way back, and we were comfortable playing in a tight game.”
Also key was finding the clutch goal. The Senators fell behind in the opening minute but clawed back with Michael Amadio and Olle Lycksell, parts of the supporting cast, scoring in the comeback win.
“You need it,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “In today’s NHL, especially with our team, Brady being out, we’re going to need contributions throughout our lineup.”
