In every sports season for every sport, some storylines help kick the season off. For example. will the Kansas City Chiefs be the first to three-peat as Super Bowl champions? (Not if the Eagles and their fans have anything to say about it!)
Entering the NHL season this year, the big story was Alexander Ovechkin. Entering his 20th season in the league, he had a real crack at breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goal-scoring record of 894 goals. Nobody has come close. Ovi was just 41 goals away. Considering he scored 31 goals last season and 43 the year before, it was possible the vaunted record could fall.
Then Ovechkin got hurt and missed a large chunk of this season. Even then, he has scored 23 goals this year. He is currently 19 goals away from 895. So, could he break the record this season? What's more, could he break the record against the Flyers?
The short answer is no, but the longer-term answer is maybe. First of all, Washington has 32 games left this year. To score 19, Ovi would have to go on a major record-breaking streak. Joe Malone of the 1917-18 Montreal Canadiens had a goal-scoring streak of 14 games. Mario Lemieux in 1992-93 has the next closest (and most recent) at 12 games.
I bring this up because the Flyers have two games left against the Washington Capitals. The first game is on February 6 in DC. For the Capitals, that is three games from now. There is no way Ovi is scoring 19 goals in three games. It would be cool, but it ain't happening.
However, 15 games later, the Flyers will be hosting Washington on March 20. So, could Ovechkin score 19 goals in basically 18 games? Again, you are talking about some historic levels of production coming out of a 40-year-old coming back from an injury. Again, it's not going to happen. Even with a dozen games remaining in the season after that, it's going to be close. It may not happen this season. Had it not been for that injury, it could've happened.
Ovechkin has had a few hot streaks this season that could see him do it if he picks up the pace down the stretch. He had a five game goal streak earlier in the season, collecting six goals in the process. he also had nine goals in a seven game stretch, though he missed time with injury during that. Things have died down for him in recent games as he has four goals in his last 12 games.
Which brings us to my cryptic answer of "maybe". If Ovechkin comes back for one more season after having not breaking the record, (and if he hasn't broken the record, he's almost guaranteed to come back), it would depend on the how the NHL scheduled the games. I would almost suspect they would pack the games with rival teams, like Pittsburgh, Carolina, NY Rangers, Tampa Bay, Boston, and the Flyers.
As of right now, the Flyers stand tied for third with Tampa with 50 career goals scored against them by Ovecking (Winnipeg has 55 goals scored on them). Who knows. Perhaps the NHL might match up the Flyers and Caps early next season and the record could fall then. For now, we'll just have to grab some popcorn and watch the show.