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Ovechkin first 30 goal in first 50 postseason game player since Sakic

Alex Ovechkin

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 02: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals warms up before a game against the New York Rangers in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Semifinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Verizon Center on May 2, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

As we previously mentioned, with his early power-play goal in Washington’s 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers, Alex Ovechkin now has 30 goals in just 50 playoff games. That’s pretty impressive, but it looks even better when you give it some context.

The last player to score 30 goals in his first 50 postseason contests was Joe Sakic, who did it in 1997. The scary thing is that Ovechkin might have reached the 30-goal mark even quicker if his playing time hadn’t been slashed – at least compared to previous postseason runs – and the Capitals didn’t change their playing style. He had 25 goals in 37 playoff contests coming into 2011-12.

“It’s not about me; it’s all about everybody,” Ovechkin said. “We wanna play good in playoff game. Of course I’m gonna do my best and everybody gonna do their best. You can see how we start hockey game where we put puck deep and finish our checks and move our legs, get penalty and score goal.”

For now, it’s not a stretch to assume that Ovechkin is primarily thinking about Game 7, which will be played at 7:30pm ET on Saturday.

Ovechkin has never played in the Conference Finals before. The last time he came this close was in 2009 when the Capitals lost in Game 7 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round. Washington has changed a lot since then. We’ll see if the results are different too.