Capitals: Breaking down Alex Ovechkin’s amazing season
Alex Ovechkin had another memorable season with the Washington Capitals.
Alex Ovechkin continues to defy age, taking home another Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy and hoping to lead the Washington Capitals back to the Stanley Cup Final when the season resumes with a 24 team postseason.
The Great Eight scored his 700th goal in February and had 706 before the season was paused and ultimately suspended. One thing we’ll be curious about is how his goal totals would count in the round robin but chances are those will be playoff numbers.
One thing that doesn’t get talked about is Ovechkin’s advanced stats. This season he had a Corsi For percentage of 52.8 percent on even strength. His Fenwick For percentage was 51.4 percent.
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Ovechkin scored in a memorable comeback on opening night against the St. Louis Blues that ended in an overtime goal from Jakub Vrana. He potted two goals in a loss to Nashville and scored in the next two games. We all knew he was on the way to chasing milestones and putting himself in elite company with 700 goals.
For the third straight season, Ovechkin led the league in goals including an NHL record ninth time overall. He became the eighth member of the 700 goal club, matching his jersey number, back on Feb. 22nd at the New Jersey Devils becoming the second youngest and second fastest to reach that mark.
Ovechkin also recorded four hat tricks this season, each one more amazing than the last! He even had back to back hat trick performances against the Devils and the New York Islanders.
Since entering the NHL in 2005-06, Ovechkin has scored 244 more goals than any other player. His average of 0.61 goals per game ranks fourth in league history among skaters with at least 500 appearances trailing only Mike Bossy (0.76), Mario Lemieux (0.75) and Pavel Bure (0.62).
Ovechkin is three goals shy of passing former Capital Mike Gartner (708) for the seventh most goals in NHL history. This season Ovechkin passed Luc Robitaille, Teemu Selanne, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, and Mark Messier up the ladder in the NHL’s all-time scoring list on the road to 700.
Ovechkin’s best stretch of the season came when he scored 14 goals in seven games, part of that stretch included the back to back hat tricks. The stretch came from Jan. 13 through Feb. 4 and included a total of three hat tricks in six games. That also featured his first natural hat trick.
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Ovechkin will look for more success in the playoffs whenever that will start up and we can’t wait to be along for the ride.