ARLINGTON, Va. -- Alex Ovechkin skated lightly Monday for the first time since the Washington Capitals forward fractured his left fibula against the Utah Hockey Club on Nov. 18.
The Capitals announced Nov. 21 that Ovechkin would miss 4-6 weeks after he was injured in a leg-on-leg collision with Utah forward Jack McBain 5:30 into the third period of their 6-2 victory. He skated before practice Monday wearing a track suit and helmet while Capitals athletic trainer Jason Serbus watched from the bench.
“It was nice to see,” coach Spencer Carbery said. “Just the first step. No timeline updates or anything like that. This is just a step in the progression of him coming back.”
Ovechkin will miss his seventh straight game when Washington (17-6-1) hosts the San Jose Sharks at Capital One Arena on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MNMT, NBCSCA). That will make it the longest layoff of the 39-year-old’s career, surpassing the six straight he missed with an upper-body injury from Nov. 4-14, 2009.
The injury paused his chase of the Wayne Gretzky's NHL record of 894 goals. Ovechkin, the Capitals captain, was leading the League with 15 goals in 18 games this season before was injured to raise his career total to 868 and close within 27 goals of surpassing Gretzky.
Washington is 4-2-0 without Ovechkin, including wins in each of its past four games.
“I just don’t think we rely on any one player,” forward Lars Eller said. “We’re a four-line team -- four lines, three (defense) pairs, two goalies -- like a really complete team in terms of getting contributions from everybody in different ways. That’s our strength.”
Prior to fracturing his fibula, Ovechkin had missed only 59 games, including 35 because of injury, during his 20 NHL seasons. The 11 games he sat out during the COVID-shortened 56-game 2020-21 season (seven for a lower-body injury, four while in COVID protocol) are the most he’s missed in any season.
“I don’t think he’s real, to be honest,” Capitals center Pierre-Luc Dubois said. “It’s been two weeks with a broken leg and he’s back on the ice. He’s a machine. … It’s great to see him back on the ice. He was happy when he got off, all excited. We were all excited. So, it’s a great sign, a step in the right direction.”
Forward Sonny Milano, who hasn’t played since Nov. 6 against the Nashville Predators because of an upper-body injury, skated in full equipment before the Capitals practiced Monday but wore a noncontact jersey.
Defenseman John Carlson and forwards Dylan Strome, Nic Dowd and Brandon Duhaime took maintenance days and did not practice.
