Atlantic Avenue – The Caps are in Toronto tonight where they will finish up the Atlantic Division portion of their schedule with their one and only visit to this fine city this season. Washington hasn’t visited Toronto in more than a year, since Dec. 28, 2024.
The Capitals struggled against Atlantic Division opposition this season; they enter tonight’s game with a mediocre 9-11-3 mark for the season. Two of those nine victories this season have come at Toronto’s expense; the Caps will be seeking a sweep of their season series with the Maple Leafs for the first time since they went 3-0-0 vs. Toronto in 2015-16.
Last season, the Caps were 15-5-4 against Atlantic foes.
The Gr8 Unknown – Five summers ago, Caps captain Alex Ovechkin signed just the third contract of his NHL career, a five-year pact that expires on June 30. In the five seasons since he inked that deal on July 27, 2021, Ovechkin has piled up 198 goals, seventh most in the NHL. His 14.5% shooting pct. across that span ranks 49th among all players with at least 300 games played.
At the age of 40 this season, Ovechkin has managed to score 31 goals, and he has seven goals in his last 10 games.
Throughout most of the season, there’s been much speculation about his future in the game and with the Capitals given his contract status, and this morning a video interview between the captain and Caps’ radio play-by-play voice John Walton hit the streets, just before the Caps took the ice for morning skate.
“Not yet,” responds Ovechkin, to Walton’s query as to whether he has made a decision about his future as of yet. “We’re going to a decision in the summer; I have to talk to my family, with Ted [Leonsis], with [Chris Patrick], [Brian MacLellan] and I have to make a decision in the summer.”
The Caps have four games remaining this season, and these may or may not be the final games of the captain’s career. After Wednesday’s morning skate, Ovechkin spoke in front of a bevy of reporters and a phalanx of cameras outside the Washington locker room.
“Yeah, I still enjoy it, I still have fun,” responds Ovechkin, asked if his love for the game is still what it was when he entered the League 21 seasons ago. “I’m still happy to be with the boys in the locker room, yeah.”
Ovechkin was also asked why he doesn’t take a farewell tour through the circuit, in the fashion of Marc-Andre Fleury or Anze Kopitar.
“Well, because I don’t know if this is the end of it or not,” he smiles. “So, we will figure it out.”
When Caps coach Spencer Carbery spoke to the media a bit later in the morning, he was asked about the uncertainty surrounding his captain’s status as the end of the regular season draws near.
“Honestly, that hasn't been that big of a [thing],” he says. “Because the thing for me is we're going to support O and however he wanted to go out. He's earned that right, and him taking time and wanting to make the best possible decision for him and his family, I’m totally supportive of it. And whether he's back next year, he'll be welcomed with open arms, from my standpoint, as the head coach and as our captain and if this is it, we'll support him that way, and I'll celebrate him and give him a big hug and have a cold beer with him.”
Ovechkin has racked up his 20th season with 30 or more goals this season, extending his own NHL record. The only season in which he did not score at that level was 2020-21, the 56-game, pandemic-shortened campaign. He netted 24 goals in just 45 games that season, scoring at a pace that would have resulted in a 43-goal season across a full 82-game slate.
“The game has changed almost every year,” says Ovechkin. “More faces come into the League, and you can see how fast they are, how skilled they are, and obviously you have to adjust yourself, your body and your mind. It’s life.”
Go Pro – Today marks the NHL debut of 19-year-old center Ilya Protas, recalled on Monday from AHL Hershey. The Caps’ third-round choice (75th overall) from the 2024 NHL Draft, Protas was leading all AHL rookies in scoring with 62 points (28 goals, 34 assists) in 66 games at the time of his recall.
In his last AHL game – on Apr. 4 at Hartford – he registered the AHL’s first six-point game (one goal, five assists) since 2019.
Protas is the 38th player in franchise history to debut as a teenager. Three weeks ago, 19-year-old defenseman Cole Hutson made his debut with the Caps, becoming the first teammate Ovechkin’ who was born after the Caps’ captain’s own NHL debut on Oct. 5, 2005. Protas becomes the second such player tonight.
“It’s crazy,” says Protas of being Ovechkin’s teammate in his debut. “It’s so special, too. I can’t believe it; he’s the best goal scorer in the NHL and seeing him in the same room, it’s special. You watched his highlights in your childhood, and yeah, it’s crazy. I can’t believe it’s so.”
Protas will open his NHL career centering a line with his brother on the left side and veteran right wing Tom Wilson on his right.
“You're hoping that they're going to be real difficult with their size, strength, length, ability to hold on to pucks,” says Carbery of the trio. “And Pro – Big Pro – and Willie have played together a lot over the last three years, so any centerman that we put in there, for the most part, whether it's [Pierre-Luc] Dubois, whether it was Justin Sourdif earlier in the season, usually it's a pretty seamless transition for the centerman.
“So, we feel like putting little Pro in that spot to be able to play between, they also make it easy on the centerman to play. They're always in good spots, they’re really intelligent players, and then they play a simple, hard game to where they're really, really easy to read off with the puck offensively.”
“I think it’s going to be the heaviest line in the League,” says Ovechkin of the newly cobbled trio with Wilson and the brothers Protas. “So, good luck.”
Caps center Pierre-Luc Dubois also made his NHL as a teenager, less than nine years ago with Columbus.
“Mine was first game of the season when everybody was still in training camp mode,” says Dubois. “So he comes in and it's a little different, but he's going to play with two good wingers, one that he's extremely familiar with, so he'll have the help there. But you only have one first game the NHL, and you want to enjoy it as much as you can.
“And obviously, sleeping last night, I don't know how that went. Napping before the game; I don't know if he'll be able to. But you want to enjoy it as much as you can and take it all in, because, like I said, you only have one of these. We're all excited for him. He's excited. Big Pro is happy. Yeah, it'll be a special night for him.”
As it will for those of us in attendance as well.
“Just to enjoy it, and don't overthink it,” says Carbery, asked what advice he’d give to Protas. “I think those are the two things that stand out to me. A player playing in his first NHL game, and you want him to – even though the nerves are going to be there inevitably – you want him to go out there and play as free as he possibly can, just go work hard and enjoy the moment. You only get to do this once.”
In The Nets – Logan Thompson returns to the net for Washington tonight in Toronto. In his most recent outing, Thompson stopped 37 of 39 shots – including each of the last 27 in succession – to help the Caps to a 6-2 victory over Buffalo this past Saturday night in Washington. It was his seventh start with 35 or more saves this season.
Tonight, he will start for the 18th time in Washington’s last 21 games, and Thompson has recorded more than a third of his win total (28) for the season in those last 17 appearances, going 10-5-2 with a 2.65 GAA and a .908 save pct.
Lifetime against the Maple Leafs, he is 5-1-1 in seven appearances – all starts – with a shutout, a 2.34 GAA and a .916 save pct.
Anthony Stolarz is listed as the likely netminder for the Leafs tonight. He missed two months of action in the middle of the season because of injury, and although he forged a .500 record both before and after the Olympic break, Stolarz’s qualitative numbers have been better since the Olympic break (3-3-2, 2.83 GAA, .910 save pct.) than they were early in the season (7-7-1, 3.55, .882).
Lifetime against Washington, Stolarz is 1-1-0 in two appearances – both starts – with a 1.95 GAA and a .918 save pct.
All Down The Line – Here’s how the Caps and the Maple Leafs might look on Wednesday night in Toronto:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 72-Beauvillier
21-A. Protas, 62-I.Protas, 43-Wilson
24-McMichael, 80-Dubois, 9-Leonard
22-Duhaime, 34-Sourdif, 63-Miroshnichenko
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 38-Sandin
6-Chychrun, 57-van Riemsdyk
44-Hutson, 3-Roy
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
78-Gibson
Healthy Extras
27-Liljegren
29-Lapierre
47-Chisholm
52-McIlrath
53-Frank
64-Kampf
Injured/Out
79-Lindgren (upper body)
TORONTO
Forwards
53-Cowan, 91-Tavares, 88-Nylander
23-Knies, 11-Domi, 63-Maccelli
81-Joshua, 29-Groulx, 89-Robertson
18-Lorentz, 26-Quillan, 19-Jarnkrok
Defensemen
44-Rielly, 51-Myers
22-McCabe, 25-Carlo
2-Benoit, 28-Stecher
Goalies
41-Stolarz
60-Woll
Healthy Extras
61-Pezzetta
76-Villenueve
Injured/Out
8-Tanev (abdomen)
34-Matthews (knee)
95-Ekman-Larsson (lower body)
