The Washington Capitals used rapid-fire offense in the first period to cruise to a 7-1 win over the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Wednesday night. The Capitals won both games of a back-to-back in Southern California, with a 3-1 victory against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night. Washington will try to complete the SoCal sweep tomorrow night when they visit the Anaheim Ducks, who have won six straight dating back to Nov. 24 and a 9-1 record over their last 10 contests.Â
Ovechkin Adds Two Goals to His Scoring RecordÂ
Alex Ovechkin is not making it easy on any player who might want to lead the league in scoring at the end of their career. Ovechkin netted two goals on Wednesday to push his total to 14 on the season and 911 over his 21-year NHL career. With nine goals over his last 10 games, Ovechkin seems to be rounding into form this season.Â
Washington Capitals left winger Alex Ovechkin celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the San Jose Sharks (David Gonzales-Imagn Images)
Ovechkin’s 911 goals in 1,519 games give him a 0.59 goals per game (G/PG) rate over his career. According to ESPN, he is on pace for 41 goals over a full schedule in 2025-26. That would mean scoring 27 goals over the next 54 games as he slowly creeps towards becoming the NHL’s first player to celebrate 1,000 regular-season goals.
Related: Alex Ovechkin Can Reach 1000 Goals if He Returns for 2027-28 Season
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews and Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl are the best-positioned skaters to challenge Ovechkin’s record over the next decade. Matthews, 28, has netted 411 goals in 650 NHL games for a 0.63 G/PG rate over his 10 years in Toronto. Draisaitl, 30, has scored 414 goals in 817 games (a 0.50 G/PG rate).Â
Ovechkin, Leonard Team Up for NHL History Â
Among the takeaways from last night’s win, Ovechkin teamed up with Ryan Leonard, his 20-year-old teammate, to create a new factoid for NHL trivia heads. The 40-year-old finished with two goals, while Leonard’s four-point night was the first from a Capitals rookie since Nicklas Backstrom in March 2008. Combined, the Capitals became the first team in NHL history to receive multi-goal output from a player at 40 or older (Ovechkin) and a player 20 years or younger (Leonard) in the same contest, according to OptaSTATS.
Given that only 100 players in NHL history have laced them up at (or after) the age of 40, this helps showcase the unprecedented times we are witnessing. Seventy-five skaters have played at that benchmark and 25 goaltenders (including Marc-Andre Fleury), bringing the total to a nice round 100.
The @Capitals are the first team in NHL history to get multi-goal games from a player 40 or older (Alex Ovechkin) and a player 20 or younger (Ryan Leonard) in the same game. pic.twitter.com/NCEglisRcg
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) December 4, 2025
This season, the NHL has 6% of that list actively playing, with Ovechkin as the youngest, followed by Los Angeles Kings forward Corey Perry and Colorado Avalanche defenseman Brent Burns. Ovechkin’s 29-point campaign has been tops among the NHL’s elder statesmen so far. Perry has 13 points in 20 games this season, while Burns has 12 points in 26 contests.Â
Leonard Rides a Four-Game Point Streak into Anaheim
Leonard arrived from Boston College for the end-of-season grind with nine regular-season games and eight postseason contests as his introduction to the league last season. Unsurprisingly, he scored one goal in the regular season and added an assist during the Capitals’ 2025 Playoff run. While it took a bit of time for Leonard to get going this season, the Massachusetts-native has watched his ice-time increase as he produces for head coach Spencer Carbery’s squad.Â
With five points through the first 11 games of the season, Leonard looked like a rookie trying to figure out the NHL while averaging 12:52 of ice time (TOI). The first half of November was more of the same, with three points over the first eight games of the month. But a two-goal performance against the Edmonton Oilers on Nov. 19 got him going, including points in five games during Washington’s six-game win streak.Â
While he likely won’t challenge Matthew Schaefer’s early hold on the 2025-26 Calder Trophy, Leonard can certainly insert his name into the conversation with a strong December. With five points in the opening two games of the month, the 2023 first-round selection is well on his way to making some noise this season.Â
Capitals Soar to Top of the Metropolitan Division
A week before American Thanksgiving, Washington sat at 8-8-2, and they were looking up from the bottom of the Metropolitan Division standings. The Capitals had won twice in a ten-game span, including a 3-2 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils to open an extended homestand with seven of eight games at Capital One Arena between Nov. 15 and Nov. 28.
Washington successfully defended home ice with a 5-1-1 record on that homestand, and carrying that into their 3-0 road swing, which ends tomorrow night in Anaheim. The Capitals are 9-1-1 over 11 games since that homestand began in mid-November, and they now have an improved 17-9-2 record and an Eastern Conference-leading 36 points on the campaign.
Carbery’s crew is on a hot streak. If the Capitals’ head coach can continue to get the best out of both his young and old players, it will go a long way toward helping the Capitals team retain their Eastern Conference-leading status heading into the postseason this spring.
