Alex Ovechkin will be player to watch against Lightning

The Washington Capitals are gearing up for a Saturday night tilt against the Tampa Bay Lightning as we are writing this. We've talked about top players but I believe we failed to mention Ovi who will be just as vital as the other three top players we talked about.

Alex Ovechkin scored his second goal of the season three nights ago against the Flyers and with 855 career goals, Ovechkin needs 40 to pass Wayne Gretzky for the most all time. He would need to average 21 goals per season the next two years to supplant the great one as the NHL's all time leading goal scorer.

Per the game notes, Ovechkin has scored at least 42 goals in 13 of his 19 NHL seasons and 21 or more goals in each of his 19 seasons. With a 20 goal season in 2024-25, Ovechkin would tie Ron Francis for the second most 20 goal seasons in NHL history. He can also join Gordie Howe as the second player in NHL history to score 20 plus goals in 20 consecutive seasons.

In addiion Ovechkin is 45 points shy of 1,600 career points and 68 games shy of 1,500 career games played. This seaosn is of course the 20th season of the Great Eight. He made his Capitals and NHL debut on Oct. 5, 2005 and is Washington's longest tenured athlete surpassing Walter Johnson and Darrell Green.

On Oct. 15 against the Vegas Golden Knights Ovi recorded his 699th and 700th career assists and became the sixth player in NHL history to record 700 plus goals and 700 assists.

Ovechkin also became the seventh active player to reach the 700 assist mark and among active players with 700 or more assists Ovi's 855 goals are the most and are 262 more than the next closest player which is Sidney Crosby.

427 of Ovechkin's 700 career assists are primaries at 61 percent. Among the seven active players with 700 career assists, Ovechkin's percentage of primary assists is the fourth highest. You can catch Ovi and the Caps at 7 p.m. on Monumental Sports Network.