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The games are coming thick and fast, and one of the biggest talking points remains whether Alex Ovechkin will be successful in catching up with Wayne Gretzky's record of 894 goals.
Meanwhile, fans have named another potential contender that could break Gretzky's record before Ovi does. Ovechkin is currently going through the longest goal drought of his career.
During Sunday's matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes, Ovechkin ended the night without a goal, taking his goal drought to 13 games now. He had four shots on goal in 20:45 minutes of ice time.
However, Ovechkin's goalless night didn't end with shortcomings, as the Capitals beat the Hurricanes 2-1 in the shootout. One of the NHL's greatest goal-scorers has only managed to score five goals in 28 games this season.
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Ovechkin is on pace to finish the campaign under 20 goals, which will also be the first time in his storied career should "The Great Eight" fail to tally up the 20-point mark.
Fans took to X, formerly Twitter, to react to Alex Ovechkin's goalless drought. One even named Auston Matthews as the next one to break Wayne Gretzky's record:
"Him vs Gretzky is all academic anyway. Its gonna be Matthews by the time he retires"
Here are some more reactions on X:
Alex Ovechkin's struggles continue but Washington eases past Carolina with a shootout win
On Sunday, the Carolina Hurricanes hosted the Washington Capitals at PNC Arena. The Caps thwarted the home side with a 2-1 shootout win.
The first period ended without a goal. In the second period, Sebastian Aho gave the home side a 1-0 lead after receiving a feed in the corner to slot the puck into the back of the net for the one-timer.
At the 11:33 mark, Martin Fehervary tied the game for the Capitals after scoring a slap shot goal off Tom Wilson and Dylan Strome's assists. Darcy Kuemper was brilliant between the pipes and made 28 saves with a .966 SV%.
"I think for the team, it’s definitely a momentum builder,” Kuemper said. “The penalty kill has been giving us life all year. To get a big four-minute kill to start a game like that kind of sets the tone for everybody else." - via NHL.com
Ovechkin will hope to end the longest drought of his career when the Washington Capitals face the New York Islanders on Wednesday, Dec. 20.
