Alex Ovechkin may be playing his final National Hockey League game when the Washington Capitals visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.
Or he may not be.
Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer, is nearing the end of his 21st NHL season and is in the final season of a five-year contract. The 40-year-old left wing, who has scored 929 regular-season goals, has announced he will not make a decision regarding his future until this summer.
There was no ceremony of any kind during Washington’s final home game, a much-needed 3-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday. Fans chanted “one more year” and the Penguins stayed on the ice after the game for a ceremonial handshake, but a smiling Ovechkin waved them off after Washington won its third straight game.
“The fans always support me, support the organization, team, boys,” Ovechkin said. “It was loud. It was the energy (that) we need. You can see how the boys played.”
Ovechkin’s current season could continue. Washington (42-30-9, 93 points) and Columbus (40-29-12, 92 points) began Monday within striking distance of the Philadelphia Flyers (41-27-12, 94 points) for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Flyers, with a win over visiting Carolina on Monday, could lock up the final Eastern Conference playoff spot and make Tuesday’s game irrelevant as far as the postseason is concerned.
After a disastrous six-game losing streak that knocked them down the standings and closer to elimination from playoff contention, Columbus has split its last four games, the latest being a 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Sunday.
Mason Marchment and Adam Fantilli scored, and Jet Greaves made 19 saves for the Blue Jackets.
“We’re all very, very disappointed in how it went tonight,” Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness said Sunday. “The guys are heartbroken, we’re heartbroken, and now we’ve lost total control of what’s going to happen.”
Columbus tied the score 2-2 early in the third period, but Boston scored the go-ahead goal midway through the period.
“I think we had to maybe up our urgency a little bit,” Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski said. “I thought in the third we had a lot of grade-A chances to either take the lead or tie it back up. We missed on a few of them.”
In Washington on Sunday, Connor McMichael scored twice and had an assist and Ovechkin had an assist for the Capitals, who have won seven of nine. Logan Thompson made 24 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and second in three starts.
“I know our guys,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “And I know that there was no way we were gonna throw the towel in and just cruise in and hopefully play .500 hockey and ride it out. … I knew we would not pack it in, and we were gonna fight to win hockey games.”
Thompson is 5-1-0 with a 1.90 goals-against average and .942 save percentage against Columbus. Greaves, expected to start for the sixth straight game, is 2-2-1 with a 1.80 GAA and a .943 save percentage versus Washington.
Washington leads the season series 3-0-0. The teams have not met since Dec. 7 when Thompson made 39 saves in a 2-0 Washington home win. The Capitals won 5-1 on Nov. 24 behind two goals from Jakob Chychrun and 5-1 on Oct. 24 when Ovechkin scored his 899th goal and added an assist.
