Will it be the Great 8’s final game in Toronto? (7:30 p.m. EST, Sportsnet). Game Day Quotes

Alex Ovechkin on the decision to contemplate his retirement decision over the summer:

It is just health-wise. I’ll talk to my family and to Ted (Leonsis) and KP. We’ll see.

If I were 35 or 25, it would be one thing. Now, at 40, I’ll have to think about my future.

Ovechkin on why he enjoys playing (and scoring) in Toronto: 

It is history. There are the fans [and media]. It is always nice to play when it is sold out and the people know about hockey.

Spencer Carbery on Alex Ovechkin’s age-40 season: 

Anything you don’t think Alex Ovechkin can do, you are sorely mistaken. It just happened last year, and it happened this year. You maybe think the goals have dried up, and all of a sudden, he scores nine goals in 12 games. Next thing you know, you look at the stat pack, and he has 30 goals on the season at 40 years old. You just shake your head. It is hard enough to score 10 goals in the NHL. Ovi, at 40, has 30.

He defies all logic. As fast and good as the league has gotten, he is still productive at this point in his career.

Carbery on imagining an NHL and Capitals team that may be without Ovechkin next season: 

That will be different when he is no longer wearing that C and the Capitals’ crest. I am going to support everything he wants to do from a decision standpoint. It’ll be a tough day.

Jake McCabe on his memories of competing against Ovechkin over the years: 

I have a recollection of him early in my career — I was probably 21 or 22 — when he was kind of in that shooter set off a faceoff. I jumped pretty well, and the puck was just lying there on edge. I just remember how quickly he was able to scoop and get it off. It went right off the bar. I was thinking, “Holy shit,” at how quickly that thing came off his twig. I remember that from early in my career. It was like, “Holy cow, this guy is good.”

Typically, he is one of those guys on the right side, and I am usually on the left side on the penalty kill. I’m not that upset about it.

Steven Lorentz on the unique impact Ovechkin has made on the game of hockey: 

He has just brought so much personality to it. Coming into the league, he was celebrating goals; it didn’t matter if it was an empty-netter or his fourth goal of the game, he was celebrating the same way. I think that rubbed a few people the wrong way at the beginning of his career, but now you look at it and just know his passion for scoring goals is on another level.

The celebrations, and everything he has done — you see it in minor hockey now, when kids score goals and are doing big celebrations. He kind of brought a life of its own to the joy of celebrating scoring goals. Little things like that go a long way in moving the game in the right direction.

Craig Berube on his memories of coaching against Alex Ovechkin: 

I don’t really have just one moment, but just from coaching against him, he was a topic of conversation going into every game. On the power play, how are we going to play it? What are we going to do? Usually, it never worked.

He is a great goal-scorer. He loves to score goals and is very good at it. It is amazing to me that he can score in so many different ways. Somebody was telling me — who worked or coached there — that when people are passing him pucks in practice, he is like, “Stop giving me the puck so flat in the wheelhouse.” He wanted it moving and rolling.

He is that type of guy; he knows that in a game, he won’t get it on the tape all the time, or it is not going to be flat. He needed to work, and he was good at that. I don’t know if there is anyone else who can shoot a puck like that and find so many ways to put it in the net.

Berube on facing a massive line featuring the Protas brothers and Tom Wilson: 

I was saying that I’ll have to suit up tonight to match the size. And I’ll be a little smaller than those three boys. That is a heavy, big line. It’ll be interesting to see.

Carbery on the difficulty of the Eastern Conference playoff race this season: 

There was some point, a crazy amount of games into the season, when there wasn’t a team under .500 in the East. It was maybe 50 games in. You just don’t see that.

Now, we’re sitting at nine games above .500 and 39 wins, and we are on the outside looking in with zero margin for error, and we’ll need a little bit of help. It is just one of those odd years where there are a lot of really quality teams in the East. It’s made it difficult to make up ground. It just feels like there have been eight teams scratching, clawing, and playing playoff hockey for the last month-plus.

Maple Leafs (32-31-14) vs. Capitals (39-30-9): Head-to-Head Stats

via NaturalStatTrick.com & AdvancedHockeyStats.com

Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines

Forwards
#53 Easton Cowan – #91 John Tavares – #88 William Nylander
#23 Matthew Knies – #11 Max Domi – #63 Matias Maccelli
#81 Dakota Joshua – #29 Bo Groulx – #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz – #26 Jacob Quillan – #19 Calle Jarnkrok

Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe – #25 Brandon Carlo
#44 Morgan Rielly – #51 Philippe Myers
#2 Simon Benoit – #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Goaltenders
Starter: #41 Anthony Stolarz
#60 Joseph Woll

Extras: Troy Stecher, Michael Pezzetta
Injured: Auston Matthews (out for the season), Chris Tanev (LTIR)

Washington Capitals Projected Lines

Forwards
#8 Alex Ovechkin – #17 Dylan Strome – #72 Anthony Beauvillier
#21 Aliaksei Protas – #62 Ilya Protas – #43 Tom Wilson
#24 Connor McMichael – #80 Pierre-Luc Dubois – #9 Ryan Leonard
#17 Mathieu Joseph – #79 Samuel Helenius – #63 Ivan Miroschnichenko

Defensemen
#42 Martin Fehervary – #38 Rasmus Sandin
#6 Jakob Chychrun – #57 Trevor van Riemsdyk
#44 Cole Hutson – #3 Matt Roy

Goaltenders
Starter: #48 Logan Thompson
#78 Mitchell Gibson

Injured: Sonny Milano, Charlie Lindgren