Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals can eliminate the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night. A win in Game 5 punches their ticket to the second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. There, the Capitals would take on the Carolina Hurricanes.

So far, things are going quite well. The Capitals raced out to a 3-0 lead on Wednesday night. One of these goals came from the NHL's all-time leading scorer — Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin fired home a power-play goal midway through the first period to make it a 1-0 contest.

This goal is rather significant for the Capitals legend, as well. This is his 76th career playoff goal, and his 30th postseason goal to come on the power play. He has now matched Pittsburgh Penguins icon Mario Lemieux for the 12th most power-play playoff goals in history, according to NHL Public Relations. Ovechkin is four away from Dino Ciccarelli in 11th place.

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The Capitals were swept in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last year. However, the team underwent significant changes in the offseason. These changes rebuilt one of the league's worst offenses into one of the NHL's best. Washington ended the season with its first Metropolitan Division championship since 2019-20.

Washington entered this first-round series with the Canadiens as massive favorites. So far, they have lived up to the expectation. The Capitals won each of the first two games in this series. And they withstood a Montreal push to claim Game 4 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The Capitals are working toward a deep run in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. They have not had the easiest time with an extremely resilient Canadiens squad in round one. Still, they are on the verge of what promises to be a must-see clash with the Hurricanes in the second round of these playoffs.