Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin will be on the ice Tuesday night to open the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Florida Panthers.
“Alex will play tonight,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “To be honest, I haven’t really noticed anything different. He was a full participant, he wasn’t held out of anything and he competed at full-go.
“He’s good to go.”
Ovechkin, 36, sat out the final three games of the regular season due to an upper-body injury sustained by tripping over the stick of Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Erik Kallgren on April 24 and slamming into the boards with his left shoulder.
He has missed 27 games over his 17-year NHL career due to injury, and never a playoff game.
Earlier this season, Ovechkin passed Jaromir Jagr (766) for third on the career goals list. He scored 50 goals this season for the ninth time in his career, tying Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy for the NHL record. Ovechkin’s 780 career goals trail only Gordie Howe (801) and Gretzky (894).
Information from The Associated Press was included in this report.