Washington Capitals: Top 3 key players to watch against Avalanche

#1 Alex Ovechkin

Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is playing in his 1,200th game tonight. He is the first player in franchise history, one of five active players (Joe Thornton, Zdeno Chara, Dustin Brown, and Ryan Suter), and one of four Russian born players in NHL history (Alex Kovalev, Sergei Gonchar, Sergei Fedorov) to reach this milestone.

Since his NHL debut on Oct. 5, 2005 against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Ovechkin will have played in 1,200 of a possible 1,242 games which equals 96.6 percent. Only six other players that have played with one team in NHL history have played in at least 96 percent of their team’s games at their respective 1,200 career game mark, and no other active player has accomplished this feat. Goes to show you Ovechkin’s durability.

He was named the NHL’s Second Star of the Week in the opening week of the season, the 28th time in his career he was selected as one of the weeks top three stars. He leads the Capitals with three goals and five points through the first two games of the season.

Ovechkin has scored a goal in five of his last 10 games against Colorado with five goals and five assists. He’ll once again be looking for the stat sheet tonight.

Once again here’s your friendly neighborhood SpiderMan reminder that tonight’s game can be streamed only on ESPN plus or Hulu. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.