Since Alex Ovechkin took over as Captain, the Capitals are 5 and 1, and scoring an average of 5.33 goals per game. That doesn’t come as much of a surprise, but what does is the recent rush of fights. When Alex took over as Captain on January 5th, the Caps were last in the league with just 9 fights for the season. In the past 3 games the Caps have added 5 more melees to that total. That is more than a third of their full season total in just a trio of recent contests. Let’s look at the fight card after the jump :
Matt Bradley vs. Steve Downie – January 12th
Dave Steckel vs. Zenon Konopka – January 12th
Jason Chimera vs. Gregory Campbell – January 13th
Shaone Morrisonn vs. Colton Orr – January 15th
Jason Chimera vs. Jay Rosehill – January 15th
You’ll note that it started with Steve Downie trying to take on the Capitals’ Captain and Matt Bradley rushing to his aid. Since then, the Capitals have stepped up their efforts to stick up for one another, with multiple fights coming at the defense of their teammates. For a team that has been criticized for their toughness, this recent surge has been welcomed by their coach.
