#alex-ovechkin

#alex-ovechkin

Montreal Canadiens winger Josh Anderson is one of the most sandpapery players in the NHL. During the playoffs, he irritated Tom Wilson so much that the ice couldn't contain the pair's brawl, and the two power forwards tried to fight each other on the Capitals bench as a referee hung on for dear life. In the Capitals and Candiens' first meeting of the 2025-26 regular season, Anderson may have bit off more than he could chew with Alex Ovechkin,

Frank's first point of the night came on his first career power-play goal and his first goal of the season. Taking a pass from Alex Ovechkin as he skated into the slot, Frank ripped a shot past Sam Montembeault's glove, giving the Capitals a 2-1 lead 2:00 into the second period. "That first goal on the power play, that's a huge play," Caps head coach Spencer Carbery said postgame.

In the season opener two days earlier, Ovechkin kicked things off with a bang, scoring three of his team's four goals and added a shootout tally in the team's 5-4 shootout win in Ottawa. Returning to DC for the season's home opener against the Canadiens, he then proceeded to score just 20 seconds into the opening frame...and then twice more before the first period came to an end. A fourth goal in the second period rounded out his scoring for the evening en route to a dominant 6-1 win.

"Yeah. I grew up there. I played for Dynamo," Ovechkin said. "Of course, I want to play maybe one or two games. We'll see. You never know what's going to happen, right? Right now, I'm here and I'm enjoying my days here. We'll see."

Though Ovechkin didn't shoot in the first three rounds of the skills competition, Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery sent him over the boards as the team's fourth shooter. That choice proved the deciding moment of the game: after Devils goaltender Jake Allen stopped Ovechkin's attempt, Simon Nemec snuck the puck past Logan Thompson for the win. Carbery told reporters postgame that Ovechkin's strong third period convinced him to give him a chance to shoot.

Ovechkin in his prime had - and still has - the ability to make a mundane game into something special. And what was special about this one was that it was kind of a classic Ovechkin game, featuring lots of chances (five shots on goal, several pipes, and a missed penalty shot). Basically the type of game where you know he's just circling like a shark, waiting to strike...and when he did finally strike, it was something special:

During Ovechkin's 895th goal celebration, Gretzky told the Capitals captain on the ice at UBS Arena, "It's the best thing to ever happen for hockey. Keep going. Get to 900. You get to 900, I might buy your car." Gretzky laughed at the trip down memory lane. "The owner said he couldn't buy him a car, so I was trying to pump him up to get there quickly," Gretzky quipped.

The two would go on to play 17 seasons together, the majority of which were spent as linemates. Backstrom's 279 assists on Ovechkin's 901 career goals are the most of any player, and no other Capitals teammate has even hit the 200 mark. The two star forwards grew very close as they grew up together on the Capitals, with Backstrom even following Ovechkin to Dynamo Moscow in the KHL during the 2012-13 NHL lockout.

I was kind of a Caps fan ever since. I just love the colors, love the eagle, everything about it. And I even remember back in 2018 when they won the Cup, I was overjoyed. And I was super happy to see them get one.

"Hey, Beau. Those f***ers REALLY don't want you, but you know what?" Ovechkin said before breaking into song. "We want you baby, la la la la la la, I need you baby, la la la la la la." "There's too many teams that don't want me," Beauvillier cracked. "Huh?" Ovechkin said "Too many teams that don't want me," Beauvillier replied. "Well, you know what?" Ovechkin said. "We want you..." The two broke into laughter.

Throughout his career, Alex Ovechkin has been absolutely money on the power play (...until recently but let's not really talk about that, okay? Happy thoughts only...) - and by the 2013-14 season, Ovechkin was one of just three players in franchise history to have scored at least 20 power-play goals in a single season. The others? Dennis Maruk, who scored exactly 20 in 1981-82, and Peter Bondra, who set the new franchise record in 2000-01 with 22.

The NHL Frozen Frenzy is like the best hockey buffet ever cooked up. There will be some popular main courses. There will be some delectable side dishes. But with all 32 teams in action from 6 p.m. ET puck drops through the Battle of California showdown between the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks at 11 p.m. ET, fans will be able to sample all the NHL has to offer in one gluttonous sitting.

There are plenty of conceptions around what athletes do and don't consume as part of their routine when their sport is in session. There's a reason why Lionel Messi has lent his name to an energy drink - and why one of the all-time great SNL sketches features John Belushi as an Olympic athlete fueled by doughnuts. It's surprising, then, to read about a record-breaking athlete who's very open about his fondness for a less heralded athletic beverage: beer.

Very even first period and a good start to a road game, especially after getting demolished at Capital One Arena over the weekend. I didn't love how the last 30 seconds of the first frame went, but Logan Thompson was up to the task on a couple of really tough deflection saves. The penalty kill also looked very good. Now, the Capitals were made to use their penalty kill because the referees decided to buy two blatant dives in a row from the Stars.

"O's been solid," Carbery said. "I don't think the production's been there thus far. He's got the two goals coming off of faceoff plays. But they just haven't been falling for him early in the year, much like a lot of our group. So it's a little bit different than last year. Felt like everything went in for him last year. His shooting percentage was through the roof, best of his career, and now it feels like it's flipped a little bit through 10 games."

Alex Ovechkin has played 21 seasons in the NHL and recently suited up in his 1,500th game, becoming only the 24th player in league history to reach the milestone. To put Ovechkin's longevity into perspective, ESPN shared a mind-blowing statistic during their telecast of the Capitals-Stars game. Ovechkin has played against 32 percent of all NHL players... ever. Meanwhile, fellow sports legends LeBron James (22 NBA seasons) and Tom Brady (23 NFL seasons) have played against 35 percent and 21 percent of their league's total players.

Hey Ovi, feels like yesterday [was] the year you got drafted. I want to congratulate you on 1,500 games with one team. You're only one of eight players to accomplish this.