Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Alex Ovechkin leads the league in goals. On Saturday Ovechkin registered his twenty-second goal of the season in Washington’s 4-0 win over Columbus. He’s riding a three-game goal streak. He’s 33 years old and he’s not slowing down.
The Jets’ Patrick Laine and the Bolts’ Brayden Point are close behind with 21 goals apiece. Ovechkin’s 14 assists put him eighth in overall points with 36 points in 29 games.
Ovechkin’s goal against Columbus was assisted by John Carlon and Michal Kempny.
As Chris Cerullo points out in the morning after analysis, the Capitals’ ailing power play means Ovechkin’s scoring has come almost entirely at even strength recently. Only one of his sixteen points during his eleven-game streak has been on the power play.
Ovechkin also has points in all the Capitals’ wins this season, their only player to do so.
Now has a point in all 17 of the Caps’ wins. https://t.co/fGUU5u5hW4
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) December 9, 2018
Not to put a dampener on the “Ovechkin is awesome rename the Rocket Richard Trophy after him already Gary Bettman” celebration, but Ovechkin’s success might be hiding some of the Caps’ weaknesses. (Again, stop us if you’ve heard this one before…) The gap between Ovechkin and his teammates is a big one.
Nicklas Backstrom is second on the team with fewer than half the number of goals (10) but almost as many points, 34 to Ovechkin’s 36. Injuries to Evgeny Kuznetsov, TJ Oshie, and scoring phenom Tom Wilson obviously factor into things and emphasize the importance of the Caps’ secondary scoring.
Ovechkin’s other point on Saturday night was an assist on Travis Boyd’s first NHL goal. And while he didn’t get rookie defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler on the board, he did “help him out” with an interview intermission.
