Capitals captain Ovechkin buys Powerball tickets

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is a newly minted member of the 500-goal club who has been paid handsomely for his scoring prowess over the past decade, but in some ways he's just like the rest of us.

Ovechkin played the Powerball this past weekend and plans on being in the running again for the jackpot that is expected to exceed $1.4 billion when the drawing is held Wednesday evening.

"I'm going to buy some. … Maybe one, maybe two," Ovechkin said after practice Tuesday. "But there's no chance you're going to win. But if I win I'll let you guys know."

Ovechkin scored two goals in consecutive games last weekend against the New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators to become the fifth-fastest player to 500 goals in NHL history. He's the first Russian-born player to reach the milestone.

Ovechkin still has five years remaining on a 13-year contract with an average annual value of $9.538 million, according to war-on-ice.com. But that didn't stop him from getting in line with his father to buy tickets Saturday, when one opportunistic fan snapped a picture and posted it to Twitter.

"It was funny," Ovechkin said. "Who's gonna take a picture of me? It's crazy. People are crazy."

Capitals forward Brooks Laich told CSN Washington he understands why Ovechkin is drawn to Powerball; in fact, Laich is playing it himself.

"He's rich, but he doesn't have 1.2 billion dollars," said Laich, who makes $4.5 million a year. "I bought one too (for Saturday), and I'm going to buy one today too. Heck, yeah. I've got house payments, man."