Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson and Nicklas Backstrom have been synonymous with the Washington Capitals franchise for the past two decades. The trio of Stanley Cup champions have suited up for more combined games in the nation's capital than any other player, and Carlson leapfrogged Backstrom during Monday night's 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.
“John Carlson is playing his 1,106th game with the Capitals tonight, moving him past Nicklas Backstrom for the second-most games played in franchise history,” confirmed Capitals PR. “Carlson is Washington’s all-time leader in games played, goals, assists and points among defensemen.”
Ovechkin — who has played 1,510 games in a Caps jersey, amassing 1,638 points in that span — scored his 903rd National Hockey League goal early in the second period on Monday, which stood up as the winner.
Carlson was slated to be a game-time decision after missing Saturday night's 3-2 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils due to an upper-body injury. He ended up playing a shade over 23 minutes while chipping in a shot, a hit and a block each.
The 35-year-old is the most important defenseman on the team, and it's critical that he stays healthy as the squad looks to overcome a poor start to the season. Carlson will be happy that the milestone coincided with a victory, one the Capitals needed badly on the heels of eight losses in 10 games dating back to October 25.
Capitals struggling mightily in 2025-26
It's been a very difficult month-and-a-half for a Washington team that was 13-4-1 at this time last year, eventually finishing at the top of the Eastern Conference.
This 2025-26 version of the Capitals is just above .500 at 9-8-2, good for last place in the Metropolitan Division. The East is shaping up to be crowded, with all eight current non-playoff teams within four points of at least a wildcard berth.
Every game is important, with the regular-season portion of the campaign now almost 25 percent complete. Charlie Lindgren did his part between the pipes on Monday, making 30 saves on 31 shots.
It was an admirable bounce-back performance for the netminder, who was 0-3-1 in his previous four starts.
“You look at the first period, they didn’t have a ton of rubber at the net, but maybe the ones they had were above average quality,” he said afterwards, per NHL.com's Harvey Valentine. “That’s my job, to obviously keep the puck out of the net, and I'm thankful that I was able to do that tonight.”
The Capitals have only won more than one game in a row twice this season, and they'll have a great chance to do it again against the visiting Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night. The Oil were just beaten 5-1 by the Buffalo Sabres.
Puck is set to drop on what will be Carlson's 1,107th NHL game just past 7:00 p.m. ET from Capital One Arena.
