Washington Capitals: Stars Of The Week – Ovechkin Gets 700

It was not a very good week for the Washington Capitals.

It ended with a bang though. Four games were played, just one win goes in the books for the Caps. The one win did come against the arch rival Pittsburgh Penguins, so if you’re going to get a win that’s the one to get.

It’s now time to wrap up the week and give out our stars of the week. With the Capitals playing poorly recently it’s been difficult to hand these things out. A lot of guys have been somewhat invisible making it hard to pick standouts. This week, even with the losses, I think it was pretty easy to name our stars of the week. So we’ll start with…

Alex Ovechkin

It wasn’t Ovechkin’s best week honestly. With four games played he had two goals. I guess you could call that a pretty typical week for the great eight. Lets be honest, he’s on this list for one reason and one reason alone. He now has scored 700 career goals in the National Hockey League. If that doesn’t give you a star of the week then what does?

I still thought Ovechkin was one of the better Capitals this week. With the whole team not playing well he was still getting plenty of chances. Even during his goalless spell he had plenty of chances.

His advanced stats don’t look too great. His Corsi% was 46.34%. Out of the 20 players to skate with the Capitals this week that ranked 13th. His scoring chance for% was 51.06%, over fifty percent which is good, but while on the ice the Capitals had 24 chances for and 23 against. It’s nearly the same thing for high danger chances. With Ovechkin on the ice the Caps had 13 high danger attempts for and 12 against.

Like always, Ovechkin got plenty of individual stats. His 14 shots this week was second on the team, second behind someone we’ll talk about shortly. He also had 15 scoring chances, behind another guy we’ll talk about in just a minute. His seven high danger attempts ranks second on the team as well, the high this week was nine which was shared by…the two guys we’re going to show you in a second now.

Two goals, some okay stats, among the team leaders in individual stats, and oh yes, made some history. If you don’t think Ovechkin deserves to be one of our stars of the week I don’t know what to tell you. Go watch him score his 700th goal and relax I guess.

T.J. Oshie

I would compare T.J. Oshie to a snake these days. You don’t notice him very much during games. Then you turn around and he’s sniping a goal. He is the Randy Orton, RKO meme right now. You don’t see him, then BANG!

This week Oshie had four total points, three of those points being goals. Oshie now has 25 goals this season. In his five seasons in D.C. he has scored 25+ goals in four of them.

Oshie was one of the many who had a Corsi% under fifty percent, but he was close, his final number being 49.49%. While on the ice the Caps had 49 attempts for and 50 against. One more shot attempt and he’s at fifty percent.

This week he was second in scoring chance percentage behind only Radko Gudas of all people. Gudas percentage was 62.96%, Oshie was well behind at 58.49%. While on the ice the Capitals had 31 chances for and 22 against. They also had 15 high danger chances for and 14 against with 77 on the ice.

Oshie had 12 shots this week, that was third best on the team behind only our other two stars of the week. His 18 individual scoring chances led the team with the next highest being Ovechkin’s 15 chances. He tied Wilson for the most high danger attempts with nine.

He’s not a center, and doesn’t take draws too often, but he did take ten faceoffs this week and won seven of them. Not bad for a winger.

He may not be the most notable Capital every game, but if he’s going to score goals like this, maybe being a snake is just what the Capitals need. If nothing else, it earns him a spot on our stars of the week.