This should surprise nobody, but Alex Ovechkin has shown no signs of slowing down since leading the Washington Capitals to their first Stanley Cup.
Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals are in the homestretch of the regular season. With the playoffs just around the corner, now is the time make sure you’re ready for the grind beginning in mid-April. Aside from that goal, Ovechkin himself has achieved more milestones throughout the season. He has another big one he’s going for and he needs just two more goals to reach it, which could come in tonight’s Capitals game in New Jersey.
With two goals Saturday night in Tampa Bay, Ovechkin sits at 48 goals and he could very well score two goals in tonight’s Capitals game against the Devils to get to 50. Ovechkin’s first goal that night came on the power play, which was the 246th PPG of his career to tie Phil Esposito for the fifth most power play goals in NHL history.
His second goal was the 655th of his career. If he gets two goals tonight, he’ll not only reach 50 goals but also pass Brendan Shanahan (656) for 13th place on the NHL’s all-time scoring list. It’s like these milestone chases will never end but that’s always a good thing.
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If Ovechkin reaches 50 goals, it would be the eighth time in 14 seasons that Ovechkin recorded 50 or more goals in a season. He would then need just one more season of scoring 50-goals to tie Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky for the most career seasons scoring 50 or more goals in an NHL season.
To put things in perspective of how rare it is to have this much consistency in scoring, the only other active player on this list is 24th. That player is Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who has posted just two seasons of 50+ goals (via NHL records).
Ovechkin’s numbers don’t surprise me but the thing that surprised me the most is that he showed no signs of slowing down this season after getting the Capitals to the top of the mountain one year ago. It wasn’t even getting to the top and still going strong that surprised me. It was that after the shortest summer of his career that was also filled with Cup stands and seemingly endless partying, Ovechkin still made time for the gym and the ice.
Just like last season, Ovechkin leads the league in scoring. And there have been any signs of a “Stanley Cup hangover” from the Great Eight.