No getting around it. Alex Ovechkin wasn’t very good on Monday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He played 21 minutes, 47 seconds. He was on the ice for the Lightning’s third and fourth goals. He fired 10 shots, but four missed the net entirely and three more were blocked.
“I think he’s got a long way to go to get to where he wants to be, or to be as good as he should be,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. “He’s our No. 1 player, but he can be better. There’s no doubt about it.”
That’s about as blunt as it gets. Now, we said last week that while Ovechkin might have the energy to power through on Saturday for the season opener, it was Monday’s game that would likely show the effects of his long flight home to Russia last week for his paternal uncle’s funeral. Did the travel play a factor?
“I have no idea. I’m not going to make any excuses for him. He’s got to be playing better,” Boudreau said.
Ovechkin had a primary assist on Brooks Laich’s power-play goal on Saturday night. And he did throw the body around a few times against Tampa. But even in that first game against the Hurricanes he recorded just two shots on goal and took a cross-checking penalty in the first period. Not the start either Ovechkin or the Caps were looking for.
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