The Washington Capitals were on a hot streak up until Saturday. Part of that seven game run has been the emergence of Alex Ovechkin. After he missed some time while being on the COVID protocol list, he finally got his game back and he’s the Ovi Caps fans all know and love.
Ovechkin scored in six of the seven games the Caps won without Tom Wilson in their seven game winning streak including a goal in five straight games. He was the difference in several of the games and he continues to climb up the scoring ladder.
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The Caps had a big game against the New York Islanders last week where they ultimately snapped New York’s winning streak at nine games to get back into first place in the East Divison. In that contest, Ovechkin scored his 718th career goal to pass Phil Esposito for sixth place all time in the NHL’s goal scoring list.
He’s nowhere near done yet. The golden goal came at the left face off circle in the classic Ovi office spot. He scored the goal off former teammate Semyon Varlamov. Next up is Marcel Dionne, who finished his career with 731 goals for fifth place. Ovechkin has 720 career goals so he needs 11 more. Ovechkin also scored his 1,300th career point that night.
But Ovechkin also proved later in the week that he can score from more locations besides his office. He did it twice against the New York Rangers on Friday night with both goals coming in the third period. The Caps trailed 1-0 then two goals from Ovechkin made the difference.
Nicklas Backstrom led the Caps in goals much of the season but Ovi is now back in the lead with 14 through 27 games. That’s good that he’s scoring in half his games. Now it’s time to predict how many goals Ovechkin can finish the 56 game 2021 season with.
Ovechkin will be scoring against the same opponents night after night against guys that know him all two well. Yet that won’t stop the Russian Machine from putting up impressive numbers.
With all that being said, I think Ovechkin will score 36 goals when all is said and done about the 56 game season. Most importantly, the team will try to lock up Ovechkin so he can retire as a Capital. If Ovechkin can score 32 goals in 48 games, 36 in 56 games is very doable. How many goals do you think Ovechkinw will finish the season with? Let us know in the comments.