Drew Doughty's injury reshapes Alex Ovechkin and Anze Kopitar's Washington goodbye

For years Drew Doughty circled Capitals games on the calendar, relishing every chance to front up against Alex Ovechkin's one timer. That rivalry will sit in the press box Monday.

Doughty is out week to week with a lower body injury after blocking a shot in Ottawa, so the Los Angeles Kings will lean on Brandt Clarke and Joel Edmundson instead. The minutes and matchups he usually eats suddenly become committee work.

That is a huge tactical break for Washington. Without Doughty, the Kings lose their best neutral zone defender against Ovechkin rushes and their most trusted penalty killer when the puck swings to the left circle.

The night still carries weight for another reason, because Anze Kopitar has already announced that this twentieth NHL season will be his last. That makes this his final regular season visit to Capital One Arena.

Kopitar has spent a career trying to quiet Ovechkin, usually with that long reach and quiet stick in the middle of the ice. Now the future Hall of Famer gets one more crack at the league's all time goals leader in this building.

If you are a Capitals fan, this feels like one of those sneaky milestone nights you only fully appreciate years down the road. You can almost hear fans arguing ten years from now about who won the final Ovechkin versus Kopitar duel.

From a matchup angle, Washington should attack the right side hard without Doughty, driving controlled entries at the Mikey Anderson pair and forcing the Kings to retreat instead of standing up at the blue line. On the power play, expect plenty of classic Ovechkin looks testing Los Angeles's adjusted penalty kill.

The Capitals have their own injury problems, with Pierre Luc Dubois out long term after abdominal and adductor surgery, so Spencer Carbery keeps juggling centers behind Ovechkin. That makes this a good measuring stick of how their depth scoring holds against a structured Kings group.

Tom Gulitti has written before about how much respect Doughty and Kopitar have for Ovechkin's scoring chase and physical grind, and that history quietly frames tonight's scene for both fanbases.

Whatever the final score, this is one of those regular season games that blends storyline and stakes, a night where Washington tries to bank points while everyone in the building sneaks a final long look at Anze Kopitar in black and silver.