Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin will not suit up against the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon. The lower-body injury that Ovechkin suffered against the Carolina Hurricanes just over a week ago has held Ovechkin out of practice and will now see him miss a game for the first time this season.
The Capitals announced the news ahead of warmups.
#Caps captain Alex Ovechkin is out for today’s game versus the New York Rangers (lower body).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 13, 2024
Head coach Spencer Carbery labeled Ovechkin a game-time decision earlier on Saturday as he has in the team’s previous two games. The Great Eight played in both of those contests but will not do the same against the Rangers.
With his absence, the list of Capitals players to feature in every single game this season is now down to Nick Jensen, Dylan Strome, Beck Malenstyn, and John Carlson.
This will be just the 33rd time in Ovechkin’s almost two-decade long career that he has missed a game due to injury. Five of those games came last season.
Alex Ovechkin has now missed 57 games in his career, per @CapsOutsider's count. And only 33 due to injury. The #ALLCAPS are 24-28-4 in those games. https://t.co/bI2MvRTCll
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) January 13, 2024
Ovechkin is the team’s leading scorer with 27 points (8g, 19a) in 39 games.
The now Ovechkin-sized hole on the left wing of the first line will be filled by Max Pacioretty. Carbery has placed the veteran forward, who grabbed his first goal in over a year against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday, with Dylan Strome and TJ Oshie.
Hendrix Lapierre will stick in the lineup after he played in Tom Wilson’s stead against the Kraken. Wilson is a go after he was also listed as a game-time decision before puck drop.
Lineys#CapsRangers | @AlibabaGroup pic.twitter.com/jj2F1qYpGH
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 13, 2024
