Back-To-Back – The Caps make a quick stop at home to host the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night, in the back half of a set of back-to-back games. Washington skated off with a 5-1 victory over the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Friday night, the Caps’ sixth victory in their last seven games.
Washington is seeing the Sens for the first time this season tonight. The game pits a pair of teams with offensively active blueline corps; Washington has 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) from its back end to rank fourth among all NHL teams and Ottawa has 19 points (three goals, 16 assists) to rank in a tie for fifth. The Caps are tied for the League lead in goals from the back end and the Sens are tied for second in most assists from the blueline.
Last season, the Caps finished fourth in the NHL with 200 points (38 goals, 162 assists) from its blueline brigade. Tonight, the Caps need to be mindful of the left side defenders on Ottawa’s top two pairings, Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot.
“Those two guys back there are a handful with their mobility and just their ability to get up in the rush,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “And even in the offensive zone, they're just so instinctually [strong]; they find good space and are able to get pucks off the wall and into the middle of the ice. Both guys can shoot it as well, so we'll have to be aware of those guys at all times, whether it's in their defensive zone and all of a sudden they get a puck and it's breaking out. The other way, we're going to have to make sure that we're slowing them down and they're accounted for coming up the ice and also in the defensive zone.
“We saw these guys three times last year, twice in their building. And you remember the games; they were hard games, they were territory games. One game was 1-0 in overtime and [Ovechkin] scored. And I remember that game being just a real territorial battle. And it wasn't a lot, but it was a hard, good hockey game. And I would expect much of the same.”
For the Caps, center P-L Dubois is expected to be back in the lineup tonight after missing the last five games with a lower body injury. Blueliner Rasmus Sandin will miss a second straight contest with a lower body injury, but he did skate on Saturday morning.
Legendary Man – For 20 years and 20 nights now, Alex Ovechkin has created buzz and dazzled fans at the hockey barn on F St. and at others across North America and beyond. Washington’s legendary captain makes history again tonight as he skates in his 1,500th NHL game tonight, becoming just the eighth NHL player to achieve that milestone with the same franchise.
Just over 20 years after scoring the first two goals of his career in his NHL debut with the Caps against Columbus on Oct. 5, 2005, Ovechkin suits up for the 1,500th game of his NHL career tonight against Ottawa. The NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer enters his milestone game just one goal shy of another milestone – one that no player has ever achieved – 900 career NHL goals.
As Ovechkin reaches the 1,500 milestone, he has played over 95 percent of all his team’s games since his debut just over 20 years ago. He has had 242 different teammates over that span, and fewer than half (105) of those players played as many as 100 games with Washington during Ovechkin’s years in the District.
“To the outside world and the fans, and to specifically, me,” says Carbery, “I think it means a lot when you play for one organization. “There’s that loyalty component and also, you’ve done something at such a high level that the organization that you’re a part of has wanted you for so long, and it has never shied away from that. I always think of players that have played – whatever sport it is – and they play their entire career in one jersey is pretty cool. So to do that, 1,500 games all in a Caps jersey, is pretty special.”
Of all Ovechkin’s teammates, only Nicklas Backstrom (1,105 games) has played more games with Washington that John Carlson during the Caps’ captain’s 21 seasons in the League. But Carlson (1,096) is now creeping up behind Backstrom in that regard.
“It’s special, what he’s done in this League,” says Carlson. “Obviously, he could be the most noteworthy ever. So it’s special to share it with one city. It’s important, and I think it’s important to him, too. I think it goes both ways; it’s cool for the team to celebrate such a star like that, but also for him. I think he feels a real sense of community and home around everything.”
Much has been written and said about Ovechkin’s physical stamina and his ability to stay healthy enough to play as many as 1,500 games in the NHL across 21 seasons. But Carbery acknowledges the mental toughness required to achieve the feat, too.
“He's just one of a kind,” says Carbery. “He's just such a unique physical [specimen]. Mentally, he's very even through challenges in his career, whether it's individual or team wise. He doesn't really have a roller coaster with it, he's able to every day wake up and he brings a love, enthusiasm and passion for the game and his teammates in coming to the rink and being in the locker room.
“Mentally, he's been able to just do that every single day for whatever it is, 20 straight years. And that hasn't changed. He hasn't had dark days or maybe, ‘I don't feel like doing it.’ He's as passionate about the game and loves the game as much as he did – probably he would say – when he broke into the league.
“And then the physical part of it, I just think he's just such a one-of-a-kind of being able to train the way that he does, and the way he's built, and his size and power and shot, and all the things that go into the physical parts of Alex Ovechkin. And some people point to the lack of injuries and that and [wonder], what do you attribute that to? I don't know. He's just built differently, and that’s all really you can say. Is it luck? Probably not, no. He trains, and he's one of those athletes that – knock on wood – stays healthy and is able to play night after night.”
When Ovechkin debuted in the NHL in 2005-06, Dave Andreychuk was still an active player in the NHL. When Andreychuk was a rookie in 1982-83, winger Wayne Cashman – the NHL’s last active player from the Original Six era – was finishing his career with Boston. When Cashman broke into the League in 1964-65, “Terrible” Ted Lindsay was still active in the NHL. When Lindsay was a 19-year-old rookie with Detroit in 1944-45, Dit Clapper was still patrolling the Boston blueline. And when Clapper came into the League in 1927-28, Hall of Fame goaltender Hap Holmes was still in the League. Holmes was a member of the 1917-18 Toronto Arenas, and the Arenas were one of four teams in the NHL’s inaugural season of ’17-18.
Holmes was born in 1888. From Holmes to Clapper to Lindsay to Cashman to Andreychuk to Ovechkin is a remarkable six degrees of separation from Ovechkin to the very beginnings of the League. Few players in the League’s rich history have had the impact on the game that Ovechkin has had over the course of his brilliant career.
“It’s tough to sum it up in one answer, what he’s done for this city and this organization,” says Caps right wing Tom Wilson, whose 843 games with Washington trails only Ovechkin, Backstrom and Carlson over the 21 seasons of Ovechkin’s career. “You really can’t put it into words, the impact that he’s had; I think we’ll be here forever. It’s been an honor to share a sweater with him on a lot of those nights, and it’s truly impressive, and a guy that – as teammates and as friends – you’re just always impressed and always in awe of what he’s been able to accomplish. He leads the way every night for us.”
Hockey in DC was different before Ovechkin burst onto the scene, and it will be different whenever he hangs up his famous yellow-laced skates for the final time. For now, let’s all savor one more Saturday night filled with palpable energy, electricity and excitement, and possibility; Ovechkin has always offered the possibility of doing something none of us has ever seen, it’s part of why he is beloved by hockey fans everywhere, even those devoted to other teams.
“It’s pretty cool, pretty special moment, obviously for me and for my family,” says Ovechkin. “I’m lucky enough to be able to play so many games for one team.
“It is special. Obviously, when you come in the League, you want to play as many games as you can. But fifteen [hundred], that’s a pretty big number for one team.”
Tonight, the fans in the building on F St. will for sure see something no one has seen in these parts, a player from the home team suiting up for the 1,500th time in a Washington sweater. And if we’re truly fortunate, maybe we’ll also see something no one anywhere has ever seen before, an NHL player netting his 900th regular season goal.
Ovechkin has 38 goals in 60 career contests against Ottawa. In 30 career games against the Senators in Washington, Ovechkin has scored in a dozen of them. Six of those games were multi-goal games, and the Caps’ captain has totaled 19 goals and 13 assists against Ottawa in Washington.
Ovechkin scored career goal No. 899 early in the third period in Columbus last night, and it turned out to be the game-winner. Late in that game, he narrowly missed netting No. 900 on a late Washington power play.
“I thought he had a pretty good chance of doing it last night,” says Carbery. “On that power play especially, you could tell he was feeling it. He wanted to get there last night.
“But guys are aware of it. He’s got 1,500 games, chasing 900 [goals]. It just feels like a common occurrence around here, that he’s chasing some type of incredible record that you just can’t even wrap your head around. And I think we’ll reflect back in a few years and think, ‘Whoa, we got to ride shotgun and watch a lot of those moments.’ This is just another one, and hopefully he can do it tonight.”
In The Nets – A night after Logan Thompson “stole” – in Carbery’s words – the Caps a couple of points in Columbus, Charlie Lindgren takes the crease for Washington against Ottawa tonight. Lindgren makes his second home start of the season and third overall tonight. In his most recent start, Lindgren and the Caps fell to the Canucks here by a 4-3 count last Sunday.
On the season, Lindgren is 1-1-0 with a shutout, a 2.04 GAA and a .932 save pct. Lifetime against the Senators, he is 0-0-2 with a 3.93 GAA and an .854 save pct. in two appearances, both starts.
Ottawa’s expected starter is veteran Linus Ullmark, who is 3-3-1 in seven appearances and starts on the season, with a 3.40 GAA and an .867 save pct.
Lifetime against the Capitals, Ullmark is 6-5-2 in 13 appearances – all starts – with a 2.92 GAA and an .899 save pct.
All Lined Up – Here’s how the Capitals and the Senators might look on Saturday night at Capital One Arena:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin 17-Strome, 72-Beauvillier
21-Protas, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
29-Lapierre, 24-McMichael, 9-Leonard
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 34-Sourdif
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
47-Chisholm, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
48-Thompson
Healthy Extras
15-Milano
52-McIlrath
Injured/Out
38-Sandin (upper body)
80-Dubois (lower body)
OTTAWA
Forwards
18-Stützle, 24-Cozens, 19-Batherson
22-Amadio, 12-Pinto, 28-Giroux
21-Cousins, 71-Grieg, 57-Perron
23-MacDermid, 89-Eller, 20-Zetterlund
Defensemen
85-Sanderson, 2-Zub
73-Chabot, 3-Jensen
43-Kleven, 33-Matipalo
Goalies
35-Ullmark
40-Sogaard
Healthy Extras
10-Spence
15-Lycksell
Injured/Out
7-B. Tkachuk (thumb)
