Washington Capitals' captain Alex Ovechkin fails to deliver in comeback -NHL Update
Three-games seemed to be a lifetime for the face of the Washington Capitals, captain Alex Ovechkin, but coming freshly out of the suspension for a hit on another player in their previous matchups, the superstar failed to deliver as they lost 3-0 against Montreal Canadiens and 4-1 to Boston Bruins in the following contest.
His comeback definitely has lifted the team’s confidence and ability to play without the fear of losing, but having Ovechkin back on the line-up still has not allowed the team to pick up any significant wins.
“Not just obviously his play, but emotional lift,” veteran Washington goaltender, Tomas Vokoun, said. “We did pretty decent without him – we went .500. Just emotional lift for everybody.”
Washington is still missing a number of players like Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green, who are both out due to various injuries, so having Ovechkin back certainly means something positive for the team.
“Obviously we need him back,” defenseman, Dennis Wideman, said. “Our power play wasn’t great tonight, but when he’s out there, they pay a lot of attention to him and that opens other things up. And when you can open them up and get a shot, he has a chance to score every time we load him up. It’s big for us to have him in the line-up.”
Washington is sitting below the playoff line at the moment at the ninth number spot with 58 points and a 27-21-4 record, underneath Toronto Maple Leafs, who have 60 points and a 27-19-6 streak so far in the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season.
Coming back into the season after nearly two weeks of being off, Alex Ovechkin has 39 points (20 goals, 19 assists) in 49 games played so far with a plus-minus rating of -6 and 24 minutes in penalty time.
Being the captain, Ovechkin is seriously under some intense pressure as the player who helped his team top the Eastern Conference for two previous seasons straight, has not been able to lead them anywhere significant going into the playoffs.
This season will certainly be a make-it or break-it one for the player, as well as for a number of his teammates.
Tags: