The Washington Capitals announced Thursday evening that further testing of team captain Alex Ovechkin’s leg injury revealed a fracture to his left fibula. The 39-year-old franchise great, who was 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-on-shin collision with Jack McBain, suffering pain and then trying to make things right before leaving the game. Initially, Ovechkin was listed week-to-week with his injury before further testing. In his 19th season, the 39-year-old Muscovite has proven remarkably resilient throughout his career. NHL career, as he had only missed 35 games due to injury before this incident.
Ovechkin leads the NHL with 15 goals scored in his first 18 games, which put him on track to break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894 goals. He’s up to 868 career goals and needs 27 more to surpass Gretzky and cement his legacy as one of the best NHL scorers of all time.
The Capitals will now have to do without Ovechkin for the foreseeable future, as they continue their season Thursday night against the Colorado Avalanche.
