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Win another Stanley Cup, or have Alex Ovechkin become the all-time goal-scoring leader?
If you had asked Washington Capitals fans what was more likely to happen this season, most would have chosen the latter. And yet, after winning five straight games, Washington currently owns the fifth-best record in the NHL. Meanwhile, Ovechkin has scored just twice in six games — one of which was on an empty net.
Ovechkin will need to score 40 more times in the next 74 games to beat Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL record for career goals.
Considering that managed just 31 goals last year, it’s probably not going to happen. At least, not this season.
But what looks like it will happen is that the Capitals will be a playoff team again. The way they’ve started the season, they look like they could be a dark horse pick to win the Stanley Cup. And it’s coming in what could be Ovechkin’s worst offensive year in the NHL.
It’s as if there is an inverse relationship between his personal success and the success of the team.
Two years ago, Ovechkin scored 42 goals for a Washington team that missed the playoffs. Last year, he had just 31 goals — his lowest total in a season where he played in more than 45 games — and the Capitals were a wild-card team.
So far this season, it looks like it will be another playoff run. Following a sweep of a home-and-home series with the Flyers on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Capitals are 5-1-0 for the first time since 2015-16. And while Ovechkin has had trouble finding the back of the net, it’s not like Washington has been hurting for goals.
While the team has the third-worst power play (9.5-percent success rate), Washington is tied for the third-most goals per game (4.33).
Every line is contributing. Tom Wilson has five goals in six games. Dylan Strome and Connor McMichael each have three goals. Third-liners Nic Dowd and Taylor Raddysh have two goals apiece, while fourth-liner Andrew Mangiapane has two goals.
“They’ve made a huge difference in a ton of different areas,” coach Spencer Carbery told reporters. “So, they deserve a lot of credit, the guys that have come in that have sort of fit in seamlessly and performed and learned the things that we’re trying to do offensively with the puck. So, there’s that, and the other part of it for me is our leadership group and our veteran players dragging them in and showing them and setting the tone and talking about that things that we have to do.”
This is the most balanced that Washington’s offense has looked since Ovechkin was drafted.
Ovechkin remains the focal point of the team. But at the age of 39, there will come a time when it can’t just be all about Ovechkin. The way it’s looking, that time has come a lot sooner than anyone thought.
Unlike the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are still relying on Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang to carry the offense, the Capitals have already found a way to bridge the gap between the past and future.
The best example of that is McMichael, a 23-year-old who ranks second on the team with eight points in six games. Combine that with the contributions of several players who were brought in last summer – Pierre-Luc Dubois, Jakob Chychrun, Mangiapane, Raddysh and goalie Logan Thompson – and it looks like the Capitals just might avoid the rebuild that they’ve put off for so long.
In the process, they might also get Ovechkin another Stanley Cup ring.
Related: NHL Power Rankings: Time To Show The New No. 1 Team Some Respect
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