Game by Game, Alex Ovechkin chips away on Wayne Gretzky’s NHL disc all the time.
Now with 879 career goals, 16 away from the surprising Gretzky, he will look to keep it going when Washington Capitals is hosted to the Utah Hockey Club on Sunday afternoon.
Ovechkin has done in four straight matches to get his season a total of 26, which sets him at a beat for 45 goals. If he keeps that pace, it would be the 14th time in his 20 NHL seasons that he reached the 40-goal brand. His 0.68 goals per game this season is the fifth highest of his NHL career-and he does this at 39 years old.
Washington coach Spencer Carbery believes that there is even more to come from his captain, who missed 16 matches with a broken leg from mid-November to the end of December.
“I think his best hockey is to come during the season,” Carbery said. “… in my head, at 39 years old, missed that time and try to get back and get stuck in the National Hockey League. I think it’s really, really hard, and I saw a difference in his individual play. I think that He will look even better out of the break. ”
The capitals enter Sunday’s slope with a chance to tie Winnipeg Jets for first place in total in the NHL. They come from a 4-3 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday and extend their score to five matches (3-0-2).
Sunday will be the last game for both teams before the league’s break for 4 nations face-off, which goes from Wednesday to February 20. The capitals are one of two teams without any representation at the tournament.
“A mental break is huge for us at this time of year,” said defender John Carlson. “Guys who are a bit beaten and injured, it will help them too. But mostly how I look at it is only the mental. Type of getting away from daily things and coming back again and reborn and rebellion to end the year strong . ”
Utah arrives in the country’s capital and wants to bounce back after a loss of 7-3 to Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. It dropped the club back to the NHL’s version of .500 in the season, where it has been during most of the campaign.
Despite the intermediate record, Utah is eight points shy for the second wild-card site from the Western conference.
“I liked our determination on crime, I like how we competed for crime,” said Utah coach Andre Tourigny. “I think we were too short at details defensively. Overall, we gave up too much on crime for them.”
It has been a struggle offensive this season for forward Lawson Crouse, which is at 12 points (eight goals, four assists) through 54 games. He is in line for only 12 goals after surpassing 20 during each of the last three seasons.
The Utah option Captain was scraped on Tuesday against the Flyers before entering the set on Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He only scored his second goal in the last 15 games.
“I keep myself at a higher level and standard,” said Crouse about being scratched. “… It is obvious that it is unfortunate but I have to play better. It’s on me.”
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