The great Capitals star will not be playing against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.
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When a player sustains an injury that will keep them out for a long time, it’s never easy. Since they have experienced what the Washington Capitals are going through at the moment, the Colorado Avalanche are no strangers to this kind of situation, but Colorado has had it worse.
Despite this, the hockey community watched the news closely after Capitals great Alexander Ovechkin suffered a leg injury a few days ago. Everyone was waiting to hear how serious the injury was, and Ovechkin is still categorised as week-to-week even though it could have been worse.
Naturally, it means the 39-year-old won’t be playing for the Avalanche when they visit Washington on Thursday night. With 15 goals in 18 games, Ovechkin is aiming to match and exceed The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, in career goals. This is a significant break for Colorado. Gretzky leads the NHL all-time leaderboards with 894, while Ovechkin has 868. The difference is 26 if you do the maths.
It’s a comfort that the Avalanche won’t have to play him, even if there was little chance that Ovechkin would achieve that feat in his upcoming game. With 15, Ovechkin leads the Capitals in goals.
With a 13-4-1 record so far this season, the Capitals are in first place in the Metropolitan division. It would have been very difficult for the Avalanche to win with Ovechkin in the lineup. Even though the Avalanche have experienced numerous injury problems of their own, Washington has suffered a significant loss. Jonathan Drouin and Valeri Nichushkin’s comebacks, however, are quite beneficial.
The Avalanche’s goaltenders, whoever is scheduled to start that game, will also benefit greatly from Ovechkin’s absence from the lineup. Although Alexandar Georgiev was put on injured reserve a few days ago, rumours have it that he might only miss one game—Monday’s matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers. This season, Justus Annunen has performed admirably, so I anticipate that he will start.
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