Ovechkin has never started a season worse. Is he even going to score?

Washington won the third game in a row! But the successful streak was overshadowed by the poor performance of captain Alexander Ovechkin. The Russian forward repeated his personal record, and in the next game he may even set a new one.

Ovechkin is on the verge of the worst start of his North American career.

Test for Washington

After losing to Boston in the opening match of the regular season, Washington won two victories in a row. First, Spencer Carbery’s team beat the Islanders (4:2), and then the Rangers (1:0). All Capitals fans were missing were goals from team captain Alexander Ovechkin. The Russian forward has so far limited himself to passing the ball, notching two assists this season.

The capital club had to pass one more test – to play at home against Tampa. And although the Lightning got off to a bad start in the regular season, losing two out of three matches, John Cooper’s team is a serious contender. Cooper, in the last match, gave the main goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevsky a rest so that he could take the ice with the reigning winner of the Eastern Conference.

At the same time, Vasilevsky’s statistics were not encouraging – 85.5% of reflected shots, and his reliability coefficient was 4.67. Kucherov didn’t start the season in the best way either, with 2+0 in three matches. During this period, the Russian striker even had the worst utility indicator in the league – “-7”.

Hard won

Before the match, Carbery again made changes to the lineup. The head coach of Washington is clearly dissatisfied with Ovechkin’s poor performance and is looking for partners with whom he could open the scoring. The captain of the capital’s club has already played with Alexey Protas and Connor McMichael, and now Anthony Beauvillier has been sent to him. In the last match, Beauvillier scored the winning goal directly from Alexander’s pass. This is probably why they were combined into one link.

But the changes did not help Washington start the first period confidently. In the eighth minute, after winning a throw-in, Ryan McDonagh made an accurate pass to Jake Guentzel, who completed the attack with a one-touch shot – 1:0. The Capitals could have tied the game even before the break, gaining the majority. But the hosts, who have the second-worst conversion percentage in the league (55.6%), were unable to score.

At the beginning of the second period, the capital’s club again played in the “5 on 4” format and again to no avail. However, in equal strengths, Washington still upset Vasilevsky. In the 38th minute, McMichael won a high-speed run from a defender and was the first to grab the rebound behind the opponent’s goal. The forward immediately delivered the puck to the net, and Protas shot into the empty corner, leaving the Russian goalkeeper no chance – 1:1.

Alexey Protas / Photo: © Patrick Smith / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

At the beginning of the second period of the game, Tampa again managed to take the lead. At the same time, the Lightning took advantage of Ovechkin’s removal, realizing their numerical advantage. Kucherov delivered the puck to the blue line, and after a long shot from Victor Hedman, forward Brayden Point made a successful recovery play.

But after just a few shifts, the Capitals responded effectively. The hosts finally got their special team to work, but this time Ovechkin did not take part in the scoring attack. Dylan Strome threw towards the goal, and Tom Wilson skillfully changed the direction of the puck’s flight – 2:2.

Both teams could have snatched victory in regulation time, having twice had the opportunity to play on the power play even before the siren. However, the goalkeepers sent the game into overtime, where luck was on the side of the hosts. In the 62nd minute, Wilson drove around the goal at speed and made a perfect pass to the far post, which was completed by defender Jacob Chickran – 3:2.

Washington won its third victory in a row, but the Capitals’ success was overshadowed by the Russian captain’s anti-record. Ovechkin failed to score only twice in his entire career in the first four regular season meetings. But he didn’t have a five-game dry streak in 20 seasons in the NHL. At the same time, Alexander, who spent 18 minutes and 33 seconds on the ice, was aimed at the goal and shot on target three times, but so far his poor execution has let him down.

As for Kucherov, despite the assist, he again earned a negative utility indicator – “-1”. In terms of this component, he now shares the league’s anti-rating with Samuel Bennett – both have “-8”. But his teammate Vasilevsky, who missed three goals after 28 shots, slightly improved his statistics – 87% and 4.08.