Caps star forward Alex Ovechkin has been through difficult losses before. He was on the Russian team that lost an Olympic semifinal game to Finland in Torino in 2006 and then again to the Czech Republic in the bronze-medal game. With the Caps he’s experienced Game 7 losses to heated rivals – the Philadelphia Flyers in 2008, an overtime loss, and the Pittsburgh Penguins last spring. Both of those were at Verizon Center. But Thursday night’s embarrassing 7-3 Olympics quarterfinal loss to Canada may be the worst one yet. Ovechkin, after all, gets another shot at a Stanley Cup in a few weeks. He has to wait until 2014 to play for a gold medal in front of his home fans in the Russian resort town of Sochi. Ovechkin had a fine tournament, but he was held off the scoresheet on Wednesday and drew plenty of criticism for that in the national and international media.
“There’s nobody in sports that has as much pride as Alex does and as much love for his country,” said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. “I mean, there’s a lot of others that [love their country]. But he’s right up there. And it’s a pretty big torch to bear when the whole country is looking at him to be the leader and they didn’t – as a team – come through. I’m sure Alex feels the brunt of it whether it’s warranted or not. And I don’t believe it is.”
Ovechkin doesn’t have a ton of time to brood, of course. The Caps begin their stretch run at Buffalo next Wednesday, follow that with a home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning and then play every other day until March 20. Yes, there’s only 20 games left. But the schedule is pretty rough between now and April 11, the regular-season finale against the Boston Bruins. In all the Caps have 20 games in just 40 days. Maybe that compressed schedule actually helps Ovechkin get over the Olympics loss. He really won’t have time to think on it too much.
“I know how passionate [Ovechkin] is about Russia because we always get into it about Canada versus Russia,” said Caps forward Brooks Laich. “That dates back to playing in the world juniors against him. So he’s very passionate about playing for his country. Obviously you can see that, too, with his comments about playing in the Sochi Olympics even if it hasn’t been decided if NHL players are going. He’ll come back motivated. I’m still happy Alex was on the Olympic team. It’s a great experience for him. But we’re also glad to have him back healthy and rested.”
