The Washington Capitals have been on a tear throughout the 2024-25 season, and Alex Ovechkin's resurgence has been a huge part of that. But the Caps will have to make do without the captain for at least a couple of weeks after The Great Eight was injured in Monday night's 6-2 win over the Utah Hockey Club.

“Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin sustained an injury to his lower leg during last night’s game in Utah, and is listed as week to week,” Capitals PR wrote on X. “Ovechkin will have further evaluation with team physicians in DC on Wednesday.”

It's a hugely disappointing update considering the way the Russian is playing; Ovechkin is up to a league-leading 15 goals, along with 25 points in just 18 games in 2024-25. And Washington is 13-4-1 on the campaign, good enough for first place in the Metropolitan Division.

“It [stinks],” Capitals forward Nic Dowd said after Monday's victory, per NHL.com. “Hate to see it. He’s been absolutely on fire and he’s huge for our team. He’s our captain. You’ve got to score goals to win games. He’s been playing incredible hockey, so, yeah, I hate to see it.”

It's been a phenomenal start in the nation's capital, but Ovechkin's injury will be difficult to overcome. He's been one of the team's best players in the early going, and at age 39, he's still a superstar.

Ovechkin collided with Utah forward Jack McBain just over five minutes into the third period on Monday; he was slow getting up and needed to be helped to the bench by teammate Jakob Chychrun.

He remained on the bench for a couple of minutes, tried to skate off the ailment, and eventually limped to the locker room. But before leaving, he scored twice, including the game-winner, to help the Capitals vault into first place in the division.

Alex Ovechkin scored 2 goals before injury on Monday

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Ovechkin potted two goals on Utah HC's Connor Ingram, one halfway through the first period and another on a powerplay just over five minutes into the second. His first held up as the winner.

It was another terrific performance, coming two days after Ovechkin managed a hat trick in a 5-2 shallacking of the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday.

At this prolific pace, Ovechkin is just 27 goals shy of breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL record of 894. But the injury will put the chase on hold, at least for now.

If the Russian superstar is only forced to miss a couple of weeks, there's a great chance he still breaks the record in 2024-25. Nonetheless, it's a discouraging blow. There's no player Washington can afford to lose less than the captain.

With 15 goals, Ovechkin is the first player age 39 or older to score 15 faster than any other player in a season, per NHL.com. He's missed just 35 games due to injury over his illustrious 20-year career. The hope in the nation's capital is that this will be a short-term setback, and that the Capitals can keep winning games without their most important player.

Washington will play its first game of the season without Ovechkin against the Colorado Avalanche at Capital One Arena on Thursday.