Alex Ovechkin has been the face of the Washington Capitals in his entire career. In 2018-19, fresh off of winning their first Stanley Cup, Ovechkin didn’t slow down.
Even though Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals just won their first Stanley Cup, their team captain showed throughout the season just how badly the team wanted to win another one.
The shortened offseason was no challenge for the 33-year old. Fresh off a 49-goal season, Ovechkin outdid himself in 2018-19. Ovechkin finished the regular season with 51-goals, leading the NHL in goals for the second season in a row.
Ovechkin picked up where he left off in the previous June, scoring in the Capitals first three games including two goals in the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals rematch against the Vegas Golden Knights.
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Two months later, Ovechkin recorded hat tricks in back-to-back games in wins over the Detroit Red Wings and the Carolina Hurricanes.
In the playoffs, Ovechkin had four goals and five assists as he did everything he possibly could to try to help the Capitals get one step closer to winning another title. The Capitals came up short though and took two steps back with a double overtime loss.
Grade A+: Alex Ovechkin deserves an A+ even though the ending to the 2018-19 season wasn’t A+ material. If you’re still 33-years old and you’re scoring at the rate Ovechkin does, I mean what could be better than that?
Ovechkin has proven once again that age is just simply a number. But it wasn’t always like this. Many thought his game had regressed when he finished 2016-17 with just 33 goals.
Now he’s playing like he did in his prime. Ovechkin has led the league in goals in six of the last seven seasons. But what also got the A+ was what Ovechkin said in his exit interview.
Hear from the Captain as he heads to the World Championship to play for Team Russia #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/st4aTm5bWA
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 26, 2019
“For me personally, I have to be better,” said Ovechkin.
“If you don’t win, you don’t play well.”
This quote speaks as if he’s ready to hit the gym, hit the ice and begin training for an interesting 2019-20 season that’s coming up. If that’s the case and Ovechkin is flying all over the ice in training camp, don’t expect Ovechkin to slow down this upcoming season.
But it also shows how much Ovechkin cares about the team success. He doesn’t care about all the goals he’s scored. Winning is what matters and the Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals will be back this Ocotber ready to go.