The 2013 NHL season started under obviously peculiar circumstances. The lockout that had infuriated everyone was over and players, fans as well as owners were all happy to see that another season would not be lost.
The Washington Capitals in particular had a number of questions that needed to be answered. They had a rookie head coach, a promising young goalie and a dynamic captain who lately had looked more like a falling star, if even a star at all.
Alexander Ovechkin was the favorite whipping boy of the NHL experts. The bane of Hockey Night in Canada’s Don Cherry, Ovechkin hit a wall at age 27. He was coming off a fifth consecutive season with declining statistics. His production had dropped below a point per game for the first time in his career. There were moments in the playoffs last year when you saw flashes of the Ovechkin you expected to see, but in the end, it wasn’t enough.
The Washington Capitals began their season on January 19 with a 6-3 loss to division rival Tampa Bay. They would lose their next three games as well, giving up 17 goals while scoring only eight of their own. Of the eight scored by the Capitals, none from Ovechkin. He was shooting and hitting, but the Capitals were losing and Ovechkin wasn’t scoring. The whispers became louder. Ovechkin was done.
Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin arrived in the NHL at the exact same time (ironically due to the last NHL work stoppage) and had engaged in a hockey version of the game of “Horse”. Anything one could do, the other would top it. It captured the attention of marginal hockey fans, and was a marketing gold mine for the NHL. Unfortunately, each have suffered major setbacks. Crosby, through injury, Ovechkin, from apparent indifference, or so we thought.
Rather than bore you with how remarkably average Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals were through the first two months of the season. The team was wallowing in the weak Southeast division, sitting four games below .500. Adam Oates was a questionable hire, and there was discussion about the Capitals using the contract amnesty clause on Ovechkin’s huge contract next summer.
For every win, a loss seemed to follow, three wins at the beginning of the month were followed by three losses. A 4-1 defeat in Boston on Saturday March 16th seems to be the turning point in the Capitals’ season and Ovechkin’s fortunes. The loss left the Washington record at 11-15-1 in fourth place behind Carolina, Winnipeg and Tampa Bay. Alex Ovechkin’s statistics through the first 27 games: 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points.
Something happened between the loss in Boston and Sunday’s game at home against Buffalo. The fortunes of both team and player would change incredibly over the course of 24 hours, saving the Capitals’ season and resurrecting their iconic leader. The Capitals would win five of their eight remaining games in March, but Ovechkin would explode. He would score eight goals in those eight games. Though the Caps did lose three times, once in overtime in Philadelphia, and one goal losses to Pittsburgh and the New York Islanders were very competitive.
Oates’ message seemed to be getting through to his star players. Mike Ribeiro, Niklas Backstrom and Mike Green were also playing their best hockey in over a year. It all started with Ovechkin though. His eight game streak to finish out March carried over into April. The Russian captain brought a whole new meaning to “April showers”, scoring 14 goals in the final 13 games of the season (NHL record).
While Ovechkin was setting the new NHL record for goals in April, the Capitals forgot how to lose. Since the loss in Boston March 16, Washington went 14-3-2 moving from 14th place in the Eastern Conference to 3rd (as the Southeast Division champs). Ovechkin led the charge, and all NHL players during that stretch, with 22 goals 12 assists and 34 points.
It might not be time to place Alex Ovechkin back onto the top of the elite players just yet. Then again, why not? No player has been more crucial to the success of their team than Ovechkin. After Sidney Crosby got hurt, the Penguins kept winning. Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis missed the playoffs. Evgeni Malkin was hurt as much as Crosby was. Did I miss anyone else? Not that I’m trying to nominate Ovechkin versus the competition by process of elimination, but I think I just did.