Caps edge Tampa in shootout
Well, as exhibition games had already showed, Alex Ovechkin is not going to break his own record of 65 goals, and that was actually expected. Time has come to win as a team, time has come to make everything possible for that as a Captain. The delegation of responsibilities, that's what Stevie Yzerman did in Detroit when he came to Sergei Fedorov and told him, "Sergei, we need you." In that case it is Alex Semin who we need.
Semin ends it in shootout.
On the other hand, it's too early to give up on Ovi's sniping abilities. After all, Steven Stamkos, Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis were shut down in this game as well. Out of combined 26 points and 10 goals scored by both teams, Stamkos, Lecavalier, St. Louis, Ovechkin, Backstrom and Semin had 0 points. Wow!
What is really positive that South East division has now a real rivalry going on between Tampa and Washington, and what's more exciting that Caps will have a lot of practice playing against true trap team like Bolts. This will benefit them tremendously in playoffs if they will learn how to beat Tampa and how to not just play trap, but how to beat the opposite team playing trap as well.
Ovechkin's stats:
-2, total ice time 21:47, 23 shifts, average shift 00:56, PP 06:50, even 14:57, 3 shots on goal, 3 attempts blocked, 3 missed, 2 hits.
Bruce Boudreau on Ovi (@4:30):
I think he's got a long way to be where he should be or to be as good as he should be. He is our number one player, but he can be better. There's no doubt about it.
Update:
People took notice that Ovi could be nursing an injury (see comments section)...
Stephen Whyno, TWT:
And it might've been a painful night for Ovechkin, who on a few occasions took a glove off to look at his left hand.
Ovechkin was not at his locker when reporters entered the room 10 minutes following the end of the game.
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7 comments:
He could probably be a lot better player if he had a lot better COACH>
I have seen some twitter comments that Alex was seen removing his glove and moving his hand several times during the game. Watching at home I did not see this occur. Since he took that hit on Saturday I was wondering if we are not looking at an early season injury. Not that they will tell us that. He was also not in his locker area when the media came in last night. I am thankful though that your article has been one of the few that mentions that the Lightenings top scorers were also kept from scoring. I know that we fans hold OV pretty high up there, but it is only two games. If we are still at this point in December we have an issue, but for now let's just see how it plays out. Now that being said I agree with anonymous that BB at times seems totally clueless. I have never seen a team get as many two many men on the ice calls that we seem to get and that is not the players fault that rests solely on him and I'm frankly a little tired of it. Not saying the man needs to go, but at some point it's not the players it's the coach and he needs to feel some pressure.
I was at the game, as I was also at the season opener. Finally, my dream to see Ovie and the Caps play in person has become a reality! I saw both the hit on Saturday and Ovie removing his glove and moving his hand several times on Monday. It's possible he has an early season injury, or it might not, IMO it's too soon to tell for sure.
My overall impression of Ovie's play is yes, he can do better and most likely will. He's still shaking off the jet lag and fatigue of traveling to Russia for a few days for his uncle's funeral. I won't make any predictions about his goals/points potential on the basis of preseason and only 2 regular season games. Let's let him settle in and see if he makes any adjustments to his game to get more chances. The most important thing is, the Caps won both games against division rivals. The Caps are getting secondary scoring from other lines plus defensemen. Ovie doesn't have to do it all anymore, and that's very good news.
Lissa, Sounds like Stephen just read your comments :-) (see update)
When he was tripped on Saturday he fell on his right hand and last night he was slashed on his right hand/wrist. The VS broadcast showed it.
Most likely I read #blamewhyno. Love him on the Twitter. Bobby G that is awesome you got to see the last two games live. Nothing like it. I took in two games last year myself. This year I have to wait until March. I got Caps Flyers tickets for my Bday. Here's hoping that its not an injury, but just jet lag. I was stuck going to Vegas for work last week. I was only gone 48 hours and I am still off schedule.
On the CSN broadcast last nite you could hear him yell in pain when the guy slashed his wrist in the third period, and he immediately got up and hit the guy the hardest Ive seen him hit this season (I think he is also worried about the Banhammer, so hasnt been hitting effectively). Its going to affect the way he whoots.
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