If you’re wondering why you didn’t hear Alex Ovechkin’s name a lot during last night’s Game 5, there’s a good reason. While Ovechkin had just over 19 minutes of ice time, he didn’t record a shot on goal. That hasn’t happened in a playoff game since Game 1 of their series against Montreal in 2010.
If this sounds counterproductive to the Caps wont to win games, you’d be right. While they had Game 5 in hand until the closing seconds and overtime, Ovechkin tells Chuck Gormley of CSNWashington.com the Caps aren’t out of it yet.
“It’s not over yet,” said Ovechkin, who leads the Caps in goals [4] and points [8] through 12 playoff games. “Somebody had to win and somebody had to lose. Unfortunately, it was so close [to victory], but not close enough.”
Ovechkin’s offensive production is solid but it’s clear Washington needs more and not just from him. The Rangers are doing their part to make life miserable on the Caps throwing the same sort of defense back in their face and it’ll take a mix of hard work and creativity to make it happen.
The Caps will hope getting back on home ice can turn the tide in Game 6 tomorrow night and perhaps this time Ovechkin can get a few pucks in on Henrik Lundqvist.