November 21 vs. Colorado Avalanche at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Caps Radio 24/7
Colorado Avalanche (10-9-0)
Washington Capitals (13-4-1)
Less than a week after they claimed a 5-2 victory over the Avalanche in Denver, the Caps will aim to sweep the season’s series with the Avs when Colorado makes its lone visit of the season to DC. The Avalanche is here on Thursday night, supplying the opposition for the opener of Washington’s two-game homestand.
Following a sweep of a three-game Western road trip in a span of just four nights, the Caps returned home on Tuesday atop the Metropolitan Division standings. But there’s little joy over those achievements in the District. Caps’ captain Alex Ovechkin, off to the best start of his 20-year NHL career, was injured in the third period of the final game of the trip in Utah on Monday night. Ovechkin’s lower body injury has him out of the lineup on a week-to-week basis, which means his upcoming absence from the Washington lineup is likely to be the longest of his NHL career.
Early in the third period of the road trip finale on Monday in Salt Lake City, Ovechkin and Utah Hockey Club forward Jack McBain collided near the Washington blueline, resulting in a lower leg injury to Ovechkin, who stayed down on the ice briefly before gingerly skating to the bench. He remained there briefly before departing down the tunnel, and he did not return.
As they flew home from Salt Lake City on Tuesday, the Caps announced that Ovechkin was week-to-week with a lower leg injury. That ailment could result in the longest injury absence of Ovechkin’s career, which is just six games as it stands now. Way back in November of 2009, Ovechkin missed six games with an upper body injury, and that’s been his longest continuous absence from the Washington lineup in his 20-year NHL career to date.
As for the current lower leg ailment, we may know more on Thursday. Ovechkin was examined on Wednesday by the team’s doctors.
“Our doctors are evaluating him today,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “So we’ll have a better idea of timeline [and] extent of injury [Thursday].”
Over the course of his career, Ovechkin’s remarkable durability has been as evident as his goal scoring talents. He has missed a grand total of 59 games, but only 35 of those are the result of an injury. He has had six suspensions totaling 10 games, he has had three personal absences totaling seven games, he has had three illness absences – all for COVID-19 – totaling six games. Finally, he was scratched from the final regular season game – a makeup game of an earlier postponement – of the 2015-16 season. That leaves 15 injury absences totaling 35 games. The longest of those previous injury absences was a six-game stretch in November, 2009 when he was sidelined with an upper body injury.
None of his current teammates was even in the NHL then. The idea of Ovechkin missing that many games in a single stretch is entirely foreign to them.
“It’s incredible,” says Caps’ defenseman John Carlson, the second-longest tenured current Capital behind Ovechkin. “I was having a little bit of déjà vu just about being in the locker room, like before we go onto the ice. Almost every time, he is there. His personality, his presence, his leadership, his abilities – they’re all going to be missed.”
“It’s weird,” says Caps’ right wing Tom Wilson. “Ever since I’ve been here, it seems like he is in every night. He’s obviously extremely durable, and it will be weird not having him around. But at the end of the day, it’s a team game. I think we are deep this year, and hopefully everybody can step up and just pick up a little bit of the slack.”
The team is definitely deep this year, and the team’s team game has been very much on point over the first 18 games. The Caps will lean on those aspects of their makeup as they “move forward” – to borrow from the captain’s own unique vernacular – without their superstar winger.
“I think what's gotten us success this year, is the team game,” says Wilson, “and every line having an identity, and the group playing really well together. And this doesn't change that. I think it puts more of an emphasis on us just continuing to do what we've been doing and working for the guy next to you.
“And we want to play for him, too. He's our captain; he leads the way every night, and he has been a superstar that carries a load for so many years. When he's out, we’ve got to make sure we're playing to the standard that he would appreciate.”
During Ovechkin’s NHL career, the Caps have managed a 26-28-5 record in the 59 games he has missed. But since the beginning of the 2021-22 season, they are 4-13-0 without him.
At Wednesday’s practice, the Caps did not tip their hand as to which player might end up taking Ovechkin’s place on the team’s top line. But Carlson slides from the top of the zone on the power play to Ovechkin’s vacated left dot office, and Jakob Chychrun will assume Carlson’s former position at the top of the umbrella.
Given the way the Caps are rolling at the moment – they’re 4-0-1 in their last five games – they may not want to disturb much of the rest of the lineup. Ovechkin was placed on injured reserve, and Sonny Milano was moved from IR to long term IR. Washington recalled winger Ivan Miroshnichenko from AHL Hershey, and he is certainly a possibility to slot right into Ovechkin’s spot on the team’s top line with Aliaksei Protas and Dylan Strome. But there are other options, too.
Andrew Mangianpane had some shifts in that role after Ovechckin’s departure from Monday’s game, and he set up a Protas goal with a nice play in the third period. If the Caps are bent on having a right shot on that line, Taylor Raddysh is another option. But the Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Raddysh line has been consistently solid all season, and although Carbery prefers to have wingers on their strong sides, it’s not an imperative.
“No, but it would help,” says Carbery, asked whether he feels like Ovechkin’s replacement should be a right shot. “I’ve said that before; I prefer wingers playing their ‘on’ sides. Protas I like on the left side, so to put another lefty over there on the right side [is not preferable]. But it’s not the be all, end all. So if there is a better fit – whether that’s Mangiapane – we’ll find out [Thursday]. We’ll figure it out.”
Since falling to the Caps last Friday in Denver, the Avs have played just once. They opened their current four-game road trip on Monday in Philadelphia with a 3-2 victory over the Flyers. Cale Makar scored twice for the Avs in the middle period, and Colorado opened up a 3-0 third-period lead on a Casey Mittelstadt strike in the front half of the final frame. But a pair of Philly goals less than two minutes apart in the third made things interesting late.
Avalanche goaltender Justus Annunen – who was pulled early in the second period of Friday’s game after being dented for three goals on six shots – picked up the win in Philly with a 24-save effort.
