(Caps Outsider)
It’s hard to believe, but Alex Ovechkin only scored his first power play goal of the season (in the 12th game) Saturday, a second period backhander on Maple Leafs goaltender James Reimer. It was also Ovechkin’s longest drought to start the season without a power play goal since 2008-2009, when it took him 16 games. The slump was also odd because Ovechkin has led the league in power play goals each of the last three seasons.
Oh, Ovechkin also tied former teammate Sergei Fedorov as the highest-goal-scoring Russian player with his 483rd of his career. Why didn’t we lead with that? Because this is of interest, too.
@ChuckGormleyCSN Ovi has yet to post a PPG. How much of this is defensive adjustments, how much can be attributed to no Mike Green on point
— Jim Dean (@paprmanjim) November 6, 2015
Gormley gives a logical answer:
Through 12 games, Oshie and Carlson each have two power-play goals and Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, Marcus Johansson and Matt Niskanen each have one. With those offensive weapons — we saw Kuznetsov replace Johansson on the top unit Thursday night – Ovechkin’s power-play numbers may dip this season, but I don’t anticipate a prolonged slump on the man-advantage.
More distributed scoring on the power play, plus Ovechkin consistently scoring 5-on-5, makes for a far more dangerous Caps team than in previous season.
Last nugget: Ovechkin’s longest powerplay goalless streak was 24 games back in 2011-12.
https://twitter.com/myregularface/status/663163762392834052
