Ageless Alex Ovechkin has surging Capitals on brink of improbable playoff push

The Washington Capitals (33-25-9) moved into the NHL's second Eastern Conference wild-card playoff spot following their 5-2 win over Calgary on Monday night, a game in which Ovechkin lit the lamp twice. 

They've since fallen back outside courtesy of the Detroit Red Wings beating Columbus on Tuesday, but the Caps have two more games in hand for the rest of the season than Detroit does.

If they can keep up their strong play as of late (winners of six of their past nine and 10 of their past 15), they're sitting pretty. 

That's despite dealing away Evgeny Kuznetsov, Anthony Mantha and more at the trade deadline. It's also despite their -27 goal differential as of March 20, remaining sixth worst in the entire NHL.

It's as improbable of a playoff push as you'll ever see in sports, and it's fitting in that case that the man leading the charge is the NHL's version of the Terminator — no matter how many times you think you've killed him for good, he comes back as strong as ever.

Ovechkin scored his 20th and 21st goals of the 2023-24 season on Monday night, keeping his streak alive of hitting at least 20 in every season of his career. He has 12 tallies in his past 21 games after starting the year with only five in his first 29. That included a 14-game streak without finding the back of the net even once, the longest of his career.

Alex Ovechkin was done. For real this time. He's 38 years old. He's in his 19th season. The league has gotten younger and faster. He was like watching the decline in the health of a longtime pet — it happens suddenly and rapidly, and there's no coming back from it, as much as you want to deny the truth.

But Ovechkin is no pet. He's hardly even human. He's a machine, programmed to wake up, score goals and go to sleep. 

He's only 52 away from Wayne Gretzky now. It's going to happen, and the best part is his historic chase isn't just some fun footnote to distract Caps fans from a basement-dwelling product on the ice, the way it seemed to be only weeks ago.

Their arms and legs have been cut off and their backs are tied against the wall, and yet the Washington Capitals find themselves somehow, someway, scrapping and clawing their way into the NHL playoff picture.