It was an exciting night at Capital One Arena for Cole Hutson and the Washington Capitals following a 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night. While a rookie skated in his first NHL contest, his captain, Alex Ovechkin, skated on the professional frozen floor for the 1,560th game of his legendary career. The duo combined to provide a much-needed win for Washington in the final weeks of the 2025-26 season.
Cole Hutson Looks Comfortable on NHL Ice
Cole Hutson, 19, made his NHL debut after spending two seasons at Boston University. The teenager started the game following his rookie lap and skated over 16 minutes in his first NHL test. He finished the game with three shots on goal, one of which went sailing into an empty net to cap off the scoring at 19:34 of the final frame.
“Didn’t really want to shoot, to be honest,” Hutson said postgame. “(I) was looking to pass the whole time. You gotta get your first one eventually, so I’m just happy it went in. I couldn’t even pass to him (Connor McMichael) if I tried; he had no stick on the ice, and he just wanted me to take it all the way in, so I kind of had to (score).”
Moments later, Tom Wilson burst into the interview with a present for the newest Capital: a fresh shaving cream pie right into the face of the rookie. “He’s got such good vision, he almost caught me,” Wilson joked as he left the Illinois-native to clean off his face and finish the postgame interview of his pro career.
“He looks really good,” goaltender Logan Thompson said of Hutson’s first performance. “Especially for a young guy in his first game. He made a lot of plays and feels like he fits right in. He didn’t look nervous at all. It’s his first game, and he is only going to get better. I think he has a bright future in the NHL here with the Washington Capitals.”
Alex Ovechkin One Shy of 1,000 Combined Goals
Ovechkin, 40, started scoring two decades ago and never stopped. Over the course of 20 years, he has scored 922 regular-season goals and 77 postseason tallies to total 999 career NHL goals in 1,721 combined games. Barring a magical finish to the 2025-26 campaign for Washington, it looks like the “Great 8” will finish second to the “Great One” (Wayne Gretzky) in all-time combined scoring for regular and postseason action. Ovechkin sits in second place with his 999 goals, while Gretzky holds a slim advantage at 1,016 tallies.
Related: Alex Ovechkin Could Reach 1,000 Goals if He Returns for 2027-28 Season
Ovechkin’s goal snapped a six-game streak without a goal and represents only his third goal scored over the last six weeks. Of course, that includes a three-week break for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Goals have come in bunches for Ovechkin this season, so perhaps Wednesday’s celebration amongst teammates is the start of a good run for him. If it is, you should pay attention. It could be the last glimpse of the greatest goal scorer in NHL history.
Logan Thompson Stopped 34 of 35 Shots in the Victory
Thompson, 29, has been excellent this season in a heavy workload. The undrafted netminder is 23-19-5 with a 2.39 goals-against average (GAA) and a .914 save percentage (SV%). While Washington’s season has been far worse than last year’s electric campaign, Thompson’s stats have held solid with a better GAA (2.49 down to 2.39) and higher SV% (.910 up to .914), with 13 contests left for the Capitals in 2025-26.
“The only thing that matters right now is two points,” Thompson calmly said after the win. “I don’t care if I let in seven goals. So, we’ll build off it, and every point is important right now. Just get ready for the next game. We have two more here at home (on the current homestand).”
The Capitals host the New Jersey Devils tomorrow night at Capital One Arena for a Metropolitan Division clash at 7 pm. Washington wraps up the staycation with a date against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday afternoon at 12:30 pm. Following those games, the Capitals will depart for a three-game road trip to the West Coast beginning in St. Louis on Tuesday night.
Washington (34-27-8, 76 points) needs to jump ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers (76), Ottawa Senators (77), and Columbus Blue Jackets (81) just to have an opportunity to catch the two teams holding the wild card position: Boston Bruins (82) and Detroit Red Wings (82). No team in the East has more than a three-game winning (or losing) streak entering play on Thursday, which means Washington isn’t getting any help from the rest of the field. Right now, the only thing the Capitals can do is try to stack as many wins as possible and see where the chips fall over the next month.
