Saturday's NHL schedule is absolutely stacked. Thirteen games, and honestly, several of them have some serious storylines worth paying attention to.
The biggest one? Alex Ovechkin hits game number 1,500 with the Capitals when they host Ottawa tonight at 7 p.m. ET. Only seven other guys have ever played that many games with one franchise. That alone is historic. But here's the kicker: Ovechkin is sitting on 899 career goals. So if he scores tonight, we're watching him hit 900 and celebrate 1,500 games at the same time. The crowd in Washington is going to lose it if that puck goes in.
Over in Tampa, Nikita Kucherov needs one point to reach 1,000 for his career when the Lightning host Anaheim at 5 p.m. ET. Tampa's been rough out of the gate this year. They're 1-4-2 after dropping four straight to start the season. Kucherov hitting that milestone would at least give the fans something to cheer about, and maybe it shakes the team out of this early funk. Only Steven Stamkos has more points in franchise history with 1,137, so Kucherov's in elite territory here.
Out west, Connor McDavid is closing in on 1,100 career points when Edmonton visits Seattle at 10 p.m. ET. He's at 1,093 right now, which means he's seven points away from becoming just the second Oiler ever to hit that number. The only other guy who's done it? Wayne Gretzky. That's the kind of company McDavid is keeping.
If you're into watching elite defensemen go at it, the Vancouver-Montreal game at 7 p.m. ET should be fun. Lane Hutson, last year's Calder Trophy winner, brings his Canadiens into Rogers Arena to face Quinn Hughes, who won the Norris Trophy in 2023-24. Hutson's been on fire to start the year with 8 points in 9 games. Hughes, meanwhile, leads the entire league in ice time at over 26 minutes per night. Montreal's rolling at 6-3-0, but Vancouver needs a bounce back after a mediocre 4-4-0 start.
Buffalo and Toronto wrap up their home and home series at 5 p.m. ET in Toronto. The Sabres took the first game on Friday night with a convincing 5-3 win. Mattias Samuelsson, a defenseman, scored twice. Yeah, that happened. The Leafs are going to want revenge on home ice, but Buffalo's got to feel pretty good about their chances after taking care of business in game one.
With 13 games spread across the day, there's plenty of action to follow. Whether you're tracking milestone moments or just want to catch some solid hockey, Saturday's got you covered.