Keeping left wing off the scoreboard is a priority
The season is just six games old for the Capitals, but one clear lesson has emerged during the first two weeks. Opposing teams are going to do everything possible to keep star left wing Alex Ovechkin off the scoreboard.
That strategy has been successful so far. Ovechkin was held to a lone secondary assist during Tuesday night’s frustrating 2-1 loss at Calgary. That leaves the league’s reigning Hart Trophy winner with just two goals and two assists. Both goals came in a 4-2 win over Chicago on Oct. 11.
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Time to panic? Not really. The Caps are still 3-2-1 entering tonight’s 10 p.m. game at Phoenix (2-3). And despite the Calgary game – the first time Washington scored fewer than three goals this season – Ovechkin’s teammates have picked up the slack with 19 goals from 10 other players.
“Of course it’s easier if I don’t score [but] different guys score,” Ovechkin said earlier this week. “But my job is score goals. And I have to score, too.”
So it may be time for some adjustments. Calgary’s defenders harassed Ovechkin in neutral ice, preventing him from generating speed heading into the offensive zone. And if he happened to beat one defender with a nice move there was usually another nearby to help – the definition of a marked man.
“You’ve got a guy that’s used to scoring. Albeit at the minor-league level, I know that situation,” said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau, who produced 100 points or more in a season for five different minor-league clubs and is still one of the American Hockey League’s all-time leaders in goals scored. “When you’re a scorer and you don’t score you hold the stick a little too tight. You cheat a little bit in your own zone. You stay on the ice longer than you should. These are things you do when you’re pressing too hard.”
That pressure will only grow until Ovechkin finds the back of the net. It is something he did 65 times last year, an NHL record for a left wing. Sometimes, according to Boudreau, even a puck bouncing off a player’s rear end and past the goalie is enough to start a hot streak.
“Nothing’s really happening with me,” Ovechkin said. “I just play how I play. I have chances, but don’t score goals. It’s okay.”
Phoenix is one of the few teams in the NHL that can match the Caps’ rare combination of youth and skill. The Coyotes have 10 players on the 23-man roster who are 23 or younger, including center Peter Mueller, 20, and Calder Cup candidate Kyle Turris, 19. Mueller and 18-year-old left wing Mikkel Boedker each have two goals through five games. Turris, also a center, has a goal and three assists.
Phoenix also boasts a familiar nemesis in center Olli Jokinen, acquired in an offseason trade with the Florida Panthers. Jokinen routinely gave the Caps headaches while playing for their Southeast Division rivals, producing nine goals and nine assists for Florida in 18 games against Washington since the 2005-06 season. So far, Jokinen has a goal and five assists for the Coyotes. Back-up goalie Mikael Tellqvist will start in net for Phoenix in place of Ilya Bryzgalov.
