Alex Ovechkin will be player to watch against Golden Knights

The Washington Capitals take on the Vegas Golden Knights tonight at 7 p.m. at Capital One Arena. The player to watch tonight is none other than the great eight himself Alex Ovechkin.

Last night against the Carolina Hurricanes he scored his fifth goal which was his second straight game with a goal. CJ Witt, our contributor, questioned his leadership but came to the conclusion that he isn’t too old to lead. Lately he’s been playing as if he read that article.

It was really the leadership he questioned per say. It was was more about his age.

Ovechkin’s goal last night marked the 265th go ahead goal of Ovechkin’s career, which passed Brett Hull (264) for sole possession of the most in NHL history, via NHL Stats.

Ovechkin now sits 17 goals shy of passing Gordie Howe (801) for second place on the NHL’s all time goals list and two goals shy of passing Howe’s mark for the most goals scored by a player with a single franchise. Howe had 786 career goals with Detroit.

Last night’s goal also marked the 399th goal he scored on the road which trails only Wayne Gretzky (402) for the most in league history (courtesy of NHL Stats).

Ovechkin is heating up and has recorded a team high eight points in 10 games this season with five goals and three assists. He’s three points shy of passing Adam Oates and Sidney Crosby (1,420) for the 19th most points in NHL history.

Alex Ovechkin led the Capitals last season with three points in two games against the Golden Knights last season. That equals two goals and one assist. That happened in one game on the road where Ovechkin scored his 50th goal of the season.

In his career against the Golden Knights Ovechkin has scored five goals in the regular season. He also happened to score three crucial goals against them in the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals.

The Capitals need Ovechkin to step up even more with the team missing T.J. Oshie for a while and some other key pieces. And the November schedule doesn’t get any easier with games played every other day with some tough opponents.