The Washington Capitals announced Thursday evening that further tests on a leg injury to team captain Alex Ovechkin revealed a fracture in his left fibula. The 39-year old franchise great, who has been placed on injured reserve, is now expected to miss four-to-six weeks recovering.
Ovechkin was injured Monday night in the Capitals’ game against Utah after a shin-to-shin collision with Jack McBain, going down in pain and then attempting to skate things off before exiting the game. Initially, Ovechkin had been listed as week-to-week with his injury before further testing. In his 19th season, the 39-year old from Moscow has proven remarkably durable throughout his NHL career, as he had missed just 35 games due to injury prior to this incident.
Ovechkin leads the NHL with 15 goals scored over his first 18 games, which had put him well on pace to break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894 goals. He is up to 868 career goals and needs 27 more to surpass Gretzky and cement his legacy as one of the NHL’s greatest scorers ever.
The Capitals will now have to carry on without Ovechkin for the foreseeable future, as they will continue their season Thursday night against the Colorado Avalanche.
