Ever since his arrival to the National Hockey League a decade ago, “Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals” has been a deserved spotlight billing, much like Diana Ross and the Supremes. Ovechkin’s irrepressible explosiveness and charisma, on and off the ice, have made him the league’s most captivating superstar, and appointment viewing whenever he steps on the ice.
The flash has been matched by results on the scoresheet throughout the regular season, year after year. This season he led the league in goals for the fifth time in eight seasons, with his league-high 53 easily beating second-place Steven Stamkos’ 43. He also takes more shots than anyone in the league by a similarly absurd margin, with his 395 this season surpassing second-place Rick Nash’s total by 91.
But breakaway regular season success for Ovechkin has not translated into similarly into the playoffs, when defenses tighten and whistles are swallowed, allowing him fewer power play opportunities. The Capitals have failed to reach even the conference finals so far in the Ovechkin Era, all but once losing to a team which had an inferior regular-season record.
“We haven’t passed the second round yet in our careers here,” said Nicklas Backstrom, Ovechkin’s linemate, who has been a part of every campaign Ovechkin has had. “So we’re far from satisfied, and we want to move forward, we want to be better, and we want to go as far as we can. We want to win. That’s what keeps us trying.”
The Capitals will have another shot this year, facing the President’s Trophy-winning New York Rangers in the second round which begins Thursday after beating the New York Islanders 2-1 in Game 7 on Monday night. That series was the eighth of the 10 Ovechkin has played to require a full seven games, but only the third of those which his team was able to eke out.
“It’s a good thing, mentally,” Ovechkin of the win Monday. “Especially when they tied the game, it’s a moment when you never know what’s going to happen. But we stick to the plan, we put the puck deep again, and just keep grinding. It gives us the result.”
“It’s just a tighter game,” said Joel Ward, Ovechkin’s other linemate. “He’s playing the same, but it’s a tighter game. You don’t get that space, and a lot of guys are just back-pressuring hard.”
Though still able to contribute offensively (his average of 0.52 goals per game in the playoffs is best among active players), Ovechkin is more easily bottled up in post-season games, and his shooting percentage dips. He has also lacked the defensive recoil to match his offensive firepower, and has earned an overall minus rating (the opponent outscores the Capitals while Ovechkin is on the ice) in each of his last four playoff campaigns.
Ward, who has always been at his best in big playoff games throughout his career, said he saw Ovechkin learning to adapt to the intensity of the playoffs, and contribute in ways beyond scoring (which was limited to two goals in seven games against the Islanders).
“Alex has been physical for us out there,” Ward said. “There’s no secret: everyone is going to be playing Alex Ovechkin tight. He’s got to keep chipping away, and I think him laying the body on guys has been huge. Guys know when he’s coming, that’s no secret. That creates more space for guys like myself and Backie.”
Ovechkin’s being willing to grind as part of a team system instead of simply banging away by himself was a change which Capitals coach Barry Trotz recognized as well.
“I saw growth in Alex,” said Trotz. “I think as Alex went through the series, there were times where I thought that Alex was trying to do things himself. And as the series went on, you could see that his team-game was coming. I think Alex has always put it on his shoulders that he has to score. ‘If I don’t score, then I’m not doing my job.’ And I think that he started to see the value of ‘If I do my job, and I don’t score, I can still contribute.’”
Trotz said Ovechkin created openings and opportunities for his linemates, Ward and Nick Backstrom, by wearing out the defensive pair tasked with shutting him down.
“There’s other ways you can contribute, and I think Alex recognizes that we have the team,” said Trotz. “We’re not just Alex Ovechkin or Nick Backstrom. We’re a team, and that’s, I think, refreshing for him, so he can just play his game. That’s, hopefully, a step in his growth as one of the leaders on our team.”
Trotz, who is in his first season with the Capitals after a long stint on the successful but superstarless Nashville Predators, said he hoped that Ovechkin had made something of a breakthrough in his playoff mindset.
“Everything that you do in the playoffs you try to learn from it,” said Trotz. “As they say, sometimes failure shouldn’t be your undertaker; it should be your teacher. We had some failures in this series, and it taught us things. Hopefully it also taught individual players as well.”
Ovechkin, after all, might be the most individual player of them all.
