Before the game vs. Montreal

Feb. 9, 2010

Lindsay Czarniak's one-On-One with Ovi: "Alex Ovechkin prepares to lead Capitals to Stanley Cup and Team Russia to Gold Medal."





washcaps: WATCH: Ovechkin and Boudreau speak with the media after practice before taking off to MTL




The city of Montreal

Tarik El-Bashir, Washington Post, Monday, February 8, 2010:

Q,: It looked like Ovechkin was hurting in the third period? Any color on the injury?

Tarik El-Bashir: He took a crosscheck to his kidney area in the neurtal zone. He looked to be fine after the game.

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Meet the Press

DC Sports Бог:

Oh, and did you watch the end of Meet The Press? Granted, it's an NBC property, but still, this was David Gregory:

"Before we go, It is, of course, Super Sunday, and we all know what that means," Gregory said. "Sid the Kid vs. Alex the Great," came the fakeout. "The Washington Capitals take on the Stanley Cup champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins. It's the NHL on NBC at 12 noon, and yes, I'm so excited, because I will be there."

What do we know about David Gregory besides being a moderator of the “Meet the Press”?

Gregory also speaks French and is an avid oenophile and doting father of three ...a son and twins — one daughter and one son.

Gus Portokalos: "The word Oenophilia is a Greek word, it means the love (philia) of wine (oinos). An oenophile is a lover of wine..."



I can bet my hat head those hats were on ice after Ovi scored his hat-trick.


The Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin skates past hats after scoring his third goal in the third period Sunday against the Penguins. (Louis M. Alvarez/Associated Press)




Related post: David Gregory is rooting for Caps and Ovechkin.

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Alex in the Super Bowl ad

Not really, but...

washcaps: Super Bowl MVP? Alex Ovechkin has hat tricks on each of the last two Super Bowl Sundays.


wusa9newsnow:

"Did you know that Topper Shutt's REAL first name isn't Topper? You saw the promo air during halftime of the Super Bowl 44 XLIV, and that's a bonus for you because now you can play our game! We're giving away an HDTV to one of you who picks the correct name!"

DC Sports Бог:

Alex Ovechkin made his way into at least one ad, though it was only shown in the local market. The subject was sort of irrelevant; if you need a local sports star to add cachet nowadays, there's basically only one choice.

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Will it be enough for the Capitals to win the Stanley Cup?

By STU HACKEL, Slapshot, New York Times, Feb. 8, 2010:

Ovi's hat-trick vs. Penguins


The game was decided by Ovechkin, who once again willed his team to victory after falling behind 4-1. We wrote here last week (and for the Sunday Times) that new Devil Ilya Kovalchuk wasn’t far behind Ovechkin. That’s true for goal scoring. But when it comes to rallying the troops, telling his teammates, “Follow me, boys” and then regularly backing that up with game-winning performances, Kovalchuk isn’t quite where Ovechkin is.

Ovechkin’s brilliance under pressure is elevating him into a select group and, among current players, only Crosby might be considered alongside him. They provide the scoring heroics we saw year after year from Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Mario Lemieux — and from Guy Lafleur, Bobby Orr, Jean Beliveau and Maurice Richard before them.

The Capitals have now won 17 of 18 game and 14 straight, tied for the third longest streak in N.H.L. history with the 1929-30 Bruins of Eddie Shore, Dit Clapper and Tiny Thompson. If they beat the Canadiens on Wednesday, it ties them with the 1982 Islanders for the second longest streak.

The record is 17, set by the Penguins at the end of the 1992-93 season. Pittsburgh was unceremoniously dumped from the playoffs in the second round that spring by an Islanders team that was hardly a powerhouse.

That raises the specter of the Capitals peaking too soon.

But at the three-quarter pole, no team looks stronger or more confident than Washington. And no team is more exciting, drawing comparisons with the group some believe was hockey’s most exciting team ever.

Ray Ferraro on TSN.ca writes, “I saw a few similarities to an untested, dynamic and reckless Edmonton Oiler team right before they won their first Cup,” and he draws some personal parallels between Ovechkin and Messier, Mike Green and Paul Coffey, Niklas Backstrom and Gretzky (at least for the brilliance of their passes).

“There is that frenetic style that is difficult to tame,” Ferraro writes. “The Oilers would toy with opponents, putting a needed burst on here and there when they needed to in order to win. But when the importance of the games increased, so did their tempo. They made you try to keep up. They were big. They were more physical than you realized. If you scored four goals, they scored five.”

Ferraro points out that during their streak, the Caps have outscored foes 30-6 in the third period. “Their pace wears teams down,” he writes. “They will take chances because they are confident that they can outscore any mistake.

“And here’s the stat line that shows that they have the necessary will to battle back when they trail: only one team in the N.H.L. has a winning record when they give up the 1st goal. Yup, that’s the Capitals – who are 15-6-2 after Sunday’s win.”

No team wins the Stanley Cup in February. Much will have to happen before the streets of Washington fill for a Stanley Cup parade the way the streets of New Orleans have filled for the Super Bowl champion Saints. First, the snow in the District will have to melt.

Then there’s the small matter of the Olympics and the final 20 games of the season and four playoff rounds to win. A few other teams, including Crosby and his Penguins, are going to have a say in that.

Still, Capitals fans have to like the way their team looks right now.

Yeah, but D looked horrible in the first period vs. Pens. And the laws of physics require a good D to win the Stanley Cup.

Ken Campbell, THN, Feb. 8, 2010:

The Capitals, meanwhile, have scored five or more goals an amazing 20 times so far this season, including in each of the past three games. The next best team in that category is the Los Angeles Kings at 14. There are only four other teams in the league that are in double digits in that category and the league average for the other 29 teams is just eight.

Which brings us back to our original question. Will it be enough for the Capitals to win the Stanley Cup?

With Mike Knuble in the lineup, the Capitals are deeper offensively than they were last year and less susceptible to being shut down by the gridlock of defensive hockey that usually surfaces in the playoffs. But that wasn’t the reason why the Capitals were knocked out in the second round last season. It wasn’t as though anybody was able to shut them down, it was that their defense and goaltending came up horribly short when it was most needed in Game 7 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

And that’s what worries me about this team. Perhaps that’s why there is talk the Capitals are going into the trade deadline looking for a shut-down defenseman and perhaps even another goalie. There has been talk of them prying reigning Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas out of Boston, but if I’m George McPhee and I’m looking for help on defense, I look at Jan Hejda of the Columbus Blue Jackets, one of the most underrated shutdown defensemen in the league.

Exactly what the Capitals do will be anyone’s guess, but it will be interesting to see if they let the deadline pass with the team they have right now. It might not be enough to win the Stanley Cup, but it will certainly be a lot of fun watching them try.

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Ovechkin NHL's first star of the week again

Canadian Press, Feb. 8, 2010:

Washington Capitals sniper Alex Ovechkin has once again been named the NHL's first star of the week.

It's the third time he's received the honour this season and the second time in four weeks.

Ovechkin was tied for the week's scoring lead with 10 points, including seven goals, leading the Capitals to a 4-0-0 record.

Backstrom matched Ovechkin's 10 points last week and was named the league's third star for the second week in a row.

Washington's Alex Ovechkin outduelled fellow superstar Sidney Crosby of Pittsburgh in a thrilling clash Sunday afternoon. (Luis M. Alvarez/Associated Press)

NHL.com:

Alex Ovechkin sure knows how to put on a show.

With a national TV audience watching on NBC and a full house at the snowy Verizon Center looking on, Ovechkin lit up the ice on Super Bowl Sunday, capping yet another brilliant week.

Ovechkin's hat trick helped the Caps rally from a 4-1 deficit to force overtime, and his power-play blast off the post in OT turned into the game-winning assist when Mike Knuble tucked in the rebound for a stunning 5-4 win -- Washington's 14th in a row.

Sunday's performance capped yet another sensational week for "The Great 8." He ended with 6 goals and 10 points in four games (all victories) while going plus-6. Sunday's hat trick moved him past Sidney Crosby and Patrick Marleau into first place in the goal-scoring race with 42 (he's the first 40-goal scorer this season).

Overall, he has 16 points during a seven-game points streak and 36 in his last 17 games (he had points in 16 of those). The only thing that will stop him from terrorizing NHL goaltenders is the Olympic break that begins next Sunday.

From NHLPA:

New York, NY (Sports Network) - Washington Capitals forwards Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, along with newly minted Maple Leaf goaltender Jean Sebastien Giguere, have been named the NHL's 'Three Stars' for the week ending February 7.

Ovechkin took home top honors having led the league in scoring with 10 points during the week, including seven goals, to secure sole possession of both categories for the season at 86 points and 42 goals.

The Russian sniper put the finishing touches on his week with a hat trick in Washington's 5-4 overtime win against defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh on Sunday. The win was the Capitals' 14th straight, matching the third-longest win streak in NHL history.

Backstrom matched his teammate Ovechkin with 10 points, with two goals and eight assists, to garner Third Star accolades for the second straight week. He tied a career high with five points in a 6-5 win against the Rangers on February 4 and currently holds an eight-game scoring streak.

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