ARLINGTON, Va. -- Alex Ovechkin could resume his chase of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal record when the Washington Capitals visit the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, SNE, SNO, SNP, NHLN, MNMT2).
It would be Ovechkin’s first game since the Capitals forward fractured his left fibula in a collision with Utah Hockey Club forward Jack McBain during a 6-2 win on Nov. 18.
On Friday, the 39-year-old participated in his first full practice with Washington since he was injured.
“We will see," Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said regarding Ovechkin's status for Saturday. "Things are trending in the right direction … Another step for ‘O.’ I cannot say that he’s in the lineup tomorrow. We’ll have to wait and see how he responds to practice today and then we’ll know tomorrow morning.
“We had this circled coming out of the break. Once we knew he wasn’t going to play the L.A. [Kings] game (on Sunday) and the Boston [Bruins] game (on Monday), this practice was circled for a full-contact, drills where there’s nine, 10 players moving around. So him taking part in that, we knew that this was going to be a big box for him check on his way back.”
Washington (23-9-2) is 10-5-1 in 16 games without Ovechkin. He led the NHL with 15 goals in 18 games before he ws injured, increasing his career total to 868 to move within 27 goals from breaking Gretzky’s League record of 894.
“It’s incredible that magnitude of what’s going on us and then you just see him rolling in himself and having fun just like a kid going out for recess," Capitals defenseman John Carlson said. "It’s a fun feeling. It’s fun for me. I’m sure the young guys who haven’t been in the NHL too long, their heads are spinning when he’s in the room and it’s great. It’s great to have around. It’s a great achievement he’s chasing, and he’s got his biggest fans next to him.
"You can’t replace him. You can’t replace his personality, you can’t replace his presence, all that stuff. His on-ice abilities, his scoring, there’s no one like him. I’ve played with a lot of guys. There’s not one person like him.”
Washington announced Nov. 20 that Ovechkin was expected to miss 4-6 weeks, and he resumed skating lightly on Dec. 2. Ovechkin rejoined the Capitals in a non-contact jersey for their morning skate prior to a 4-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Dec. 14 and was cleared for contact for their morning skate prior to a 3-1 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes on Dec. 20.
With no full practices scheduled between then and the NHL’s three-day holiday break that began Tuesday, Washington decided to wait so he could practice Friday before determining if he’ll play against the Maple Leafs.
Ovechkin skated Friday in his previous spot on the Capitals' top line with Aliaksei Protas and Dylan Strome and worked with the first power-play unit.
This has been the longest absence of Ovechkin’s 20-season NHL career. His longest previous layoff was six games because of an upper-body injury from Nov. 4-14, 2009.
“Obviously, he was playing some of his best hockey right before the injury and he’s worked really hard every day since to get back as quick as possible,” Washington forward Tom Wilson said. "Whenever we get him back, it’s going to be a good day for the Caps. It’s always nice to have that firepower in your lineup and just brings a ton to the table. He’s our captain, so we wanted to try to pick up some slack while he was out, but it’s always better to have in the lineup.”
Though the Capitals lead the Eastern Conference with a .706 points percentage, their offensive production has slowed without Ovechkin. Washington led the NHL in scoring with 4.33 goals per game and was first in the League with 59 goals 5-on-5 in 18 games before Ovechkin was injured. In 16 games without Ovechkin, the Capitals are tied with the Boston Bruins and Vegas Golden Knights for 18th in the NHL in averaging 2.94 goals per game and scored a League-low 25 goals 5-on-5.
“I’ve talked a few times about this at various points of his being out of our lineup that the scoring, and lack thereof at times, was noticeable," Carbery said. "You can point to that to us just regressing back to the mean of being the hot start that we had, but also I do think there is a little bit of a piece there that when he’s on the ice and he’s on our bench and he’s taking shifts, there’s always that potential that he’s going to shoot a puck in the back of the net."
Ovechkin has scored 44 goals in 60 career games against Toronto, including 24 in 29 games at Scotiabank Arena. If Ovechkin plays Saturday, Carlson wouldn’t be surprised if Ovechkin scores against the Maple Leafs again.
“It seems like in these big games throughout the year, it doesn’t matter when it is, if it’s the first game of the year, the 42nd game or the 35th game tomorrow,” Carlson said. “Whatever it is, he always just seems to have a knack for scoring. In a big game, he’s going to score.”
