ALEX IS ON FIRE
Ovechkin making the most of deepest playoff run of his career
TAMPA, Fla. — It’s somewhat hard to argue that Alex Ovechkin has endured a career of hardships, what with his seven Rocket Richard Trophies, three regular-season MVP awards and the safety net of a 13-year contract worth a whopping $124-million.
But you look at his playoff resume and your stomach sinks.
In his first nine post-season appearances, Ovechkin never made it out of the second round. In seven of those years, his season ended in heart-breaking Game 7 fashion. He has been swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning, been upset by the eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens and three times lost to Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, who then went on to win the Stanley Cup.
It’s enough to lose your hair over. Or, in Ovechkin’s case, to turn it grey.
So the fact that he finally got over that second-round hump this year — finally got the better of Crosby and finally had a bounce go his way in a pivotal Game 7 — has done something to his confidence that no regular season award previously could.
Ovechkin, who has been flashing that trademarked gaptoothed grin more and more these days, seems a whole lot happier. And he has a reason to be. Thanks to his two goals and four points in the Eastern Conference final, the Washington Capitals stole both games on the road against Tampa Bay and headed back home for Game 3 on Tuesday needing just two more wins to reach the Stanley Cup final for the first time in 20 years.
“He’s obviously having fun,” Capitals head coach Barry Trotz said. “He’s producing, he’s all-in. We asked our group, if you’re going to have success you have to have all-in contributions and he has.
“I think he’s enjoying the run, the playoffs, maybe for the first time in a long time. He’s the face of the franchise and as the face of the franchise you get a lot of credit but you also get a lot of the blame. And because of that, I think at times it’s taken the joy out of it.”
This isn’t the Ovechkin that we thought we knew. He isn’t getting frustrated, he isn’t being called out for his lack of effort, lack of leadership and inability to come up big when it matters the most. He had a goal and an assist in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final. In Game 2, with the Lightning switching up their defensive matchups, he had another goal and assist. “We just couldn’t slow him down,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said.
It’s not an overstatement to say that Capitals, who have been without top centre Nicklas Backstrom for the past three games, wouldn’t be here without Ovechkin.
In Game 7 against the Penguins, it was Ovechkin who set up Evgeny Kuznetsov for the overtime winner. With 10 goals and 19 points, he’s joined Vegas’ Marc-Andre Fleury and Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck as the early front-runners for the Conn Smythe Trophy.
As Cooper said, it’s as if he’s taken “14 years of frustration” out on this year’s playoffs.
“There’s a reason he has 600 goals and he’s done all these wonderful things in the league,” Cooper said. “In the past he’s not had playoff success and when you do get to taste a little bit of it, it really tastes good.”
It’s a convenient and somewhat lazy to suggest that all it took was getting past the Penguins for Ovechkin and the Capitals to collectively exhale and get back to playing the kind of hockey that made them divisional winners in eight of the past 11 seasons. And yet, there might be some truth to it.
“I think if we’re being serious here, I think getting past that second round is a relief for him,” Capitals defenceman Matt Niskanen said. “I think beating Pittsburgh was a huge deal for him. We earned that. That’s a good feeling for all of us. We’re excited to be here, we’re excited for what we accomplished … so far, we’re really taking advantage of it. We’re excited to play and know what’s at stake so we’re going after it.”
Ovechkin certainly knows what’s at stake at the age of 32. He led the league with 49 goals this year, but he probably doesn’t have many more 50-goal seasons in him. The team around him might be changing too. Capitals defenceman John Carlson and heart-and-soul forward Jay Beagle are both pending free agents, so there is the possibility that this could be Ovechkin’s best — and perhaps last — chance at winning a championship.
That could explain the sense of urgency in his game. No question, he’s enjoyed a Hall of Fame career. At the same time, there exists a Cup-sized hole in his resume that would put him on par with Crosby, Gretzky and the game’s other greats.
“I think a lot of people define careers that way,” Trotz said. “I said earlier that the way I look at it is: the way you live your life, the way you do things, how you’ve done them,
that should define you — not trophies and that.
“Those are things that to me are nice, but in the bigger scheme it’s about the person, friends, family and teammates. That’s what really defines a career for me.”
It’s a nice thought. And yet, for Ovechkin, an even nicer thought is hoisting the one trophy that has eluded him.