Forget all of the silly Alex Ovechkin narratives you ever heard.
The ones about not being able to get it done. The ones about how he was missing something on his resume. The ones about how ... well ... just anything that attempted to bring down one of the NHL’s all-time greatest players and quite possibly its greatest all-time goal-scorer.
Thanks to their come-from-behind 4-3 win in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals are for the first time ever Stanley Cup champions.
And it is Ovechkin that is taking home the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
It was an incredible run for Ovechkin this postseason as he led the NHL with 15 goals in the playoffs and set a new Capitals franchise record, breaking the mark that was previously held by John Druce.
[Related: Capitals end D.C. championship drought with first Stanley Cup win]
The 15 goals are tied for the second most (Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins, 2008-09) in the playoffs over the past 25 years.
There were some significant goals among them.
He scored a pair of game-winning goals, including one in the Capitals’ Game 7 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final.
His other came in second-round against the Pittsburgh Penguins when he won Game 3 in the final minute of regulation.
Later in that series he assisted on Evgeny Kuznetsov’s overtime series-clinching goal in Game 6.
He also scored a huge power play goal in the Capitals’ Cup-clinching win on Thursday night.
In the end, the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe adds to what is already an incredible trophy collection that includes the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, three MVP awards, three Ted Lindsay awards, and seven goal-scoring crowns.
MORE:
• NBC’s Stanley Cup Playoff Hub
• Stanley Cup Final Guide
—
Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.