Capitals star forward Alex Ovechkin had played 362 NHL games in his young career and never recorded four assists in a game.
Maybe that’s not a surprise for a player who makes his living scoring goals, not necessarily creating them. But Ovechkin often shows as much excitement after a teammate scores as he does when he pops one past an opposing goalie himself.
Recommended Stories
Friday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs he got to experience both sides of that ledger. Ovechkin scored a goal 49 seconds after the opening faceoff and then produced a career-high four assists as Washington romped to a 6-1 win at Verizon Center.
The Caps (29-12-6, 64 points) have now won five of six. Mike Knuble scored two goals and Eric Fehr, Tomas Fleischmann and Tom Poti all added tallies. That was more than enough against the woeful Maple Leafs (16-24-9, 41 points), who did run into some tough luck when two different goals were disallowed – one because of a penalty and another when the Washington net was dislodged. Goals there certainly could have changed the complexion of the game. But the Caps were still the better team much of the night. Goalie Jose Theodore stopped 28 of 29 shots and likely earned another start on Sunday afternoon against Philadelphia. Ovechkin, meanwhile, jumped to 62 points, just two behind NHL leader Henrik Sedin of Vancouver. His 29 goals trail only Patrick Marleau (31) and Sidney Crosby (30) – in nine fewer games because of suspension and injury. Ovechkin posted the fourth five-point night of his career.
“[Ovechkin] is the best player in the world and he’s going to have that every night more often than not,” said Knuble after Ovechkin earned the primary assist on both of his goals. “Playing with a guy like that in his prime? It’s a gift. It’s a privelege. You just try to complement them and try not to drag them down. That’s a challenge sometimes.”
In their previous two games the Caps struggled early in games, falling behind by 4-1 to both Tampa Bay and Florida by that score. They shook off those doldrums right away when Ovechkin scored in the first minute and Eric Fehr notched his 12th of the year at 17:51 of the period. Just like that it was 2-0 and the tired Maple Leafs were in trouble after playing 24 hours earlier in Philadelphia – a 4-0 win.
Knuble is still not 100 percent recovered from the broken left finger he suffered on Nov. 13 against Minnesota. But since his return on Dec. 11 he’s learned to minimize the pain. It doesn’t hurt that his job is to stand two feet in front of the opposing goalie – in this case Vesa Toskala – and use his size and quick hands to bang home pucks in front. Both of his goals on Friday came that way. Knuble had two goals and two assists in his first 11 games back from injured reserve. But he has exploded for five goals over the last five games.
“I’ll be honest – I was getting frustrated for a time when I didn’t get my little bounces around the net,” Knuble said. “But it’s my game. I can’t really change it. That’s what they expect out of me. A lot of nights pucks will bounce by you and go the other way. But some nights they drop right in front of you.”
