Washington Capitals star forward Alex Ovechkin is nearing a return to the lineup as he continues to recover from a lower-body injury, per Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery.
“We will see. Things are trending in the right direction. Cannot say he is in the lineup tomorrow. We’ll have to see how he responds to practice today. We’ll know [whether he is ready to return] tomorrow morning,” Carbery told reporters on Friday morning.
Ovechkin suffered a fractured fibula after a knee-on-knee hit in a 6-2 victory over the Utah Hockey Club on Oct. 18.
The 39-year-old superstar scored two goals before departing in the third period, bringing his total on the season up to a then-league-leading 15 goals through 18 games.
Ovechkin is in hot pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record, and his five goals in two games before going down with the leg injury pushed his career total to 868, just 26 behind Gretzky’s all-time mark of 894.
The Moscow native was scoring at a pace that would’ve threatened Gretzky’s mark by March or April when he was hurt, but now the timeline has been pushed back.
The Capitals travel to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs on Saturday in their first game back from the Christmas break. The team has been one of the surprise stories in the NHL this season, as they rank fourth in the NHL in goals scored (125) and sit second in the Metropolitan Division with three games in hand over the New Jersey Devils.
