For one game, at least, the Montreal Canadiens found a way to neutralize Capitals star forward Alex Ovechkin.
The two-time NHL most valuable player finished without a shot or a point on Thursday night in Game 1 of a first-round Stanley Cup playoff series. That’s the first time in Ovechkin’s five-year career that has happened to him and was a key component of Montreal’s 3-2 overtime victory at Verizon Center.
Now, the big question: Can the eighth-seeded Canadiens keep it up? If they do it will go a long way towards lifting Montreal to a stunning upset of the No. 1 seed Caps.
“In playoffs everybody always wants to keep best guys on the team [down],” Ovechkin said. “But it’s all my fault. I didn’t play my game.”
Ovechkin finished the regular season with 50 goals and 59 assists. His 109 points tied for second in the NHL behind only Vancouver center Henrik Sedin. And those numbers came in just 72 games thanks to injuries and two suspensions. Washington coach Bruce Boudreau was firm after the game that Ovechkin needs to be better. But nobody associated with the Caps is showing much concern.
“None. Obviously, coming into the series [Montreal is] going to key on Alex and I thought they did a good job,” said Caps forward Brooks Laich. “But I’ve played with [Ovechkin] for five years now and when people start talking about him that maybe he’s not playing his best he always responds.”
The Canadiens didn’t match a specific defense pairing against Ovechkin. Jaroslav Spacek and Roman Hamrlik were on the ice with him the most in the third period. But Andrei Markov and Marc-Andre Bergeron earned Ovechkin duty on at least four different shifts during the first and second periods. Montreal coach Jacques Martin didn’t shy away from using Hal Gill and Josh Gorges, either.
“I think it’ scary because he’ll probably come out and be shooting even from the red line now,” Spacek cracked.
But for Boudreau, who the opposing team assigns to cover Ovechkin isn’t an issue he worries about.
“It’s not a secret. Everybody plays him like this,” Boudreau said. “But the deal is that when [Ovechkin is] on top of his game it doesn’t matter how they’re playing against him. That’s the way we’ve looked at it for the two-and-a-half years that I’ve been here.”
Ovechkin, who skipped the team’s optional practice at Kettler Iceplex on Friday, again insisted that he feels fine physically — if not 100 percent then still plenty good enough to perform to his own high standards. He admitted to some nerves before Game 1 thanks to the four-day layoff after the end of the regular season. Ovechkin also denied that he was feeling any extra pressure about being team captain for the first time in the playoffs. And Boudreau did point out the Caps are 30-5-7 since that move occurred on Jan. 5 before a game against the Canadiens.
“I don’t think we go into a game thinking ‘Hey, we can’t win [without] Alex’ because we’re a team and we had a good record without him in the lineup,” said Caps forward Dave Steckel. “We’re certainly not calling out Alex to score goals. In the playoffs a lot of times the guys who have scored goals are role players. He’s just not going to score like he did in the regular season. If he does then that’s a bonus for us and if he doesn’t then we have three other lines that need to pick it up.”
The numbers back up Steckel. The Caps were 7-2-1 without Ovechkin in the lineup this season. They had another 40-goal scorer in Alex Semin and a 33-goal scorer in Nicklas Backstrom. Four other players had 20 goals or more during the regular season and defenseman Mike Green had 19. Given that overwhelming firepower Ovechkin doesn’t have to score, necessarily. It’s his style of play that often gives his teammates a jolt. And that “power” — as he put it — just wasn’t there on Thursday.
“The thing with Alex is when he’s enforcing, when he’s hitting, when he’s shooting pucks it really brings our energy up as a team,” Green said. “Maybe that’s what we were lacking last night.”
