While the Washington Capitals haven’t had their best season on the ice, they have graduated to a new level of awesome when messing with each other off-ice. So far this season, we’ve been seen a Brouwer Bomb, a Backy Bomb (my personal favorite), and Joel Ward styling and profiling during a Karl Alzner interview.

On Sunday, during a national broadcast game against the Detroit Red Wings, Alex Ovechkin got into on the act, this time messing with fellow Olympian John Carlson during a pre-game interview.

Joe Micheletti asked Carly what the Caps need to do better to beat Detroit, which was when the Russian machine sprang into action, trying to knock the back of Carlson’s helmet up and over his eyes.

This might be the most concentration I’ve seen from Ovi since feeding a Russian late-night host tiramisu off a hockey stick.

Ovechkin didn’t stop. He kept trying to knock Carlson’s helmet up through the entire 22-second interview.

At the very end, Micheletti acknowledges Ovechkin’s silliness, telling a smirking Carlson, “Thanks for doing this, despite the stick.”