Capitals find their way to the top of conference with Ovechkin on the shelf

The red-hot Washington Capitals haven’t needed longtime captain Alex Ovechkin, who fractured his left fibula two weeks ago, to find their way to the top of the Eastern Conference standings at the start of December. 

The first two games without Ovechkin were tough sledding for the Capitals, with a pair of one-goal losses to the Colorado Avalanche and New Jersey Devils. But they found their stride, rattling off four straight wins to regain the top spot in the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference.

“Feels good. A lot of hockey to be played, but when you’re at the top like that right now, you start getting a target on your back,” center Pierre-Luc Dubois said after Saturday’s victory over the Devils. “Teams start playing their best games; you’re not surprising anybody anymore.”

Washington’s continued success has relied on the most explosive offense in the league as the Capitals continue to light the lamp, even with their top goal-scorer sidelined for several more weeks. 

Last week, defenseman Jakob Chychrun paved the way with a performance that led to him being named the NHL’s Third Star of the Week on Monday. He leads all defenders with eight goals on the season, including three last week. 

The 26-year-old stepped up in the most crucial moments in Washington’s winning streak, notching a pair of game-winning goals and providing the primary assist on another go-ahead score. 

With Chychrun’s output and the consistent play of forwards Connor McMichael and Dylan Strome (and Ovechkin, before his injury), the Capitals led the NHL with 4.27 goals per game in November. They secured an NHL-best 10 wins throughout the month with a league-leading +22 goal differential. 

“It’s character,” goalie Charlie Lindgren said about the Capitals’ ability to ride momentum swings this season. “That’s the thing about this group is no matter how it is … we find a way to battle back. We’ve got guys with experience; we got guys with the will to win.”

The charge has been led by veterans Tom Wilson and John Carlson, Washington’s alternate captains. 

“[Carlson] means so much,” Lindgren said. “I can’t understate that; especially with [Ovechkin] out, there’s a little bit of a void there, leadership-wise. John Carlson to us is, he’s our heartbeat. He’s a guy where we go where he goes.”

But reinforcements are on the way for the Capitals. Ovechkin was spotted gingerly skating around the team’s rink before Monday’s practice, two weeks after he broke his leg. He did not appear to wear a brace or use any assistive devices as he glided around the ice.

“It was nice to see,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said after practice. “This is just a step in the progression of him coming back.”

The injury halted Ovechkin’s electric start and temporarily delayed his chase of Wayne Gretzky’s career goals record. Before suffering the injury against the Utah Hockey Club on Nov. 18, the 39-year-old led the NHL in goals and was 27 scores away from breaking Gretzky’s mark. 

Throughout a storied NHL career, Ovechkin has been renowned for his durability. “Russian machine never breaks,” he famously said after avoiding injury in 2006. 

But the Russian’s ongoing six-game absence has already tied the longest stretch of consecutive missed games in his 20-year career. Based on the original timeline provided by the team, Ovechkin will likely return sometime between Dec. 19 and Jan. 2. 

The Ovechkin-less Capitals return to action Tuesday when rookie phenom Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks visit Capital One Arena.