On Tuesday the Russian superstar scored four goals in one game – numbers 23, 24, 25 and 26 on the season – the last one against the Tampa Bay Lightning was the tying goal to send the game to overtime:
Or see this video here.Impressive. Equally impressive is that it’s been consistent. Ovechkin is looking at a serious bid to grab 50 goals this year, and if you count back to the end of last season, he’s already managed 48 in his last 52 games. And if you believe some of the voices out there, Ovechkin might be on pace to blow right past 50. How does 70, or more, sound? Implausible for most, but not for Adam Gretz at SBNation at the end of November, when Ovi was still only at a paltry 19 goals.
“The key thing for Ovechkin this season is the number of shots he’s generating, averaging 5.57 per game, a number that would be the second highest of his career. If he maintains that pace and continues to score on 16.8 percent of his shots, he would get another 55 goals this season. That would give him a total of 74, which would be the eighth highest single season total in league history.”
That would require a kind of consistency to which we’ve become accustomed in the last few months, but those headlines from the last two seasons do weigh on the mind. Is Ovechkin really capable of keeping up such a pace – especially when there’s a break just around the corner for the Olympics?
Adam Proteau at The Hockey News runs down Ovi’s impressive numbers, but notes one more: on Tuesday, he played 23 minutes agains the Lightning.
“If I were a Russian hockey fan, that would be my biggest concern – that Caps coach Adam Oates is burning the candle at both ends with his best player and there may be a fatigue element by the time the Olympics begin in early February.”
That is, Proteau then says, unless it’s exactly that ice time and expectation that makes Ovi so energetic. It’s an interesting thought.
Let’s cast our minds back for a moment to when some of those dreary headlines were being written – let’s say the 2012 playoff season. The Capitals managed to win enough to force the New York Rangers to a deciding Game Seven in the Eastern semi-finals. And when they did win during that postseason, the story was almost always the same. Sure they were winning, but where – quite literally – was Ovechkin?
He was hunkered on the bench under the watchful eye of Dale Hunter, who didn’t trust Ovi to play well enough on the defensive side of things to keep him on the ice for more than about 13 minutes a game. There was (and remains) plenty of evidence for Hunter’s concern, but if Ovechkin really is the leader Washington was willing to pay for, then he has to be given a chance to play that role. Preferably, on the ice.
Which is what happened Tuesday night. With his team 3-0 down and Caps’ defenceman Mike Green seemingly hell-bent on keeping his team down a man for the whole game (he served over 18 minutes of penalties on the night), Ovi put it the whole thing on his back and pushed them to victory. So, the pattern seems to go something like this: Ovi’s on the ice more, so he takes more shots – like the offensive player he was hired to be. He takes more shots more confidently, and so he scores more goals. And then Ovi is happy. And the cycle continues. And the Capitals win.
Maybe it’s just that simple with this guy. Let’s all keep that in mind next time we wonder about his superstardom.