Ovechkin Snaps Scoreless Streak To Lift Capitals Over The Panthers

Added on Jan 09, 2011 by J Merrill in

NHL

Until tonight, if you wanted to get a good look at Alexander “The Great” Ovechkin of old, you had to squint and think bad to last year. Then tonight; with four minutes left in the period, Ovechkin put his head down, and closed in to shoot what would eventually be the game winner against the Florida Panthers. The goal is almost over shadowing the whole game, in which the Capitals defeated the Panthers 3-2.

Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau thought it we got a glimpse of the type of play Ovechkin can be. He said “It was th first Ovechkin-like goal he really scored, In a long time, yeah. So hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.”

Ovechkin entered Saturday with only two goals in 12 games, and four in his past 23. He’s never scored fewer than 46 goals in a season, but he was on pace for only 28 at the midway point this season. Ovechkin has led the NHL in goals twice in his first five seasons, and he also has been the league MVP twice. Ovechkin said after the game, that he is obviously aware his numbers are low, but he insists its early. He said “My numbers are not that good or where they’re supposed to be. But it’s the middle of the season, and there are 40 games left. We’ll see what’s going to happen at the end of the year.”

The Capitals as a whole have not been up to their usual go-go style, with only 22 goals in nine games before Saturday — an average slightly above 1 1/2 per game. Boudreau has been shuffling the lines trying to get the scoring up, as he still has two players left with substantial scoring droughts. Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom haven’t scored in at least 15 games, and Boudreau refuses to do anything but stay positive. He said “Eventually, you’ve got to believe that they’re going to score. They’re too good. I thought I’d at least get them back to where they’re comfortable and see how that goes.”

Florida Panthers coach Pete DeBoer said its frustrating to see his team do well against a strong team like the Capitals, and it was the little things that beat his team. He said “That’s as good as we can play under these circumstances. Our effort was there, our execution was there. Right now, we’re a team that if we make a mistake or two, we lose. Our margin of error is pretty small.”

Eric Fehr, who was able to get the Panthers’ first goal, said he could feel the momentum changing on the defensive side of the puck. Fehr said “We’re playing a lot stronger defensively, and everybody is starting to buy in. If we keep teams to one or two goals a game, we’re going to win a lot.”

The Florida Panthers and the Washing Capitals will meet again on Tuesday night in Florida.