For the Caps, It Shouldn’t Hurt So Bad, But It Does
The Caps had the Panthers beat three games in a row, but...
Ovi hold the ax of the game (via the Caps)
With two goals and two assists in Wednesday’s 5-1 victory against the New York Rangers, 36-year-old Alex Ovechkin got his highest point total in a season-opening game in his career. It was his 17th straight start in a Caps’ season opener and the first time he had multiple assists.
It was also the fourth time he had a multi-goal game to start the season, including a hat trick in 2017 against Ottawa. Wednesday’s game was the first time he had both a power play goal and a short-handed goal.
Most importantly, the Caps won their fifth consecutive season-opening game. They’re 10-5-2 in the Ovechkin era. Only five times in his 17 seasons has Ovi been shut out from scoring in the opening game, and the Caps lost all of those games. Strangely, he’s only scored one game-winner.
Date | Opp | W/L | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | S |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2005-10-05 | CBJ | W | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
2006-10-05 | @NYR | L | 0 | 0 | 0 | -4 | 2 | 3 |
2007-10-05 | @ATL | W | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
2008-10-10 | @ATL | L | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
2009-10-01 | @BOS | W | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
2010-10-08 | @ATL | L | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
2011-10-08 | CAR | W | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
2013-01-19 | @TBL | L | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
2013-10-01 | @CHI | L | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 2 | 9 |
2014-10-09 | MTL | L-SO | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 4 | 4 |
2015-10-10 | NJD | W | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
2016-10-13 | @PIT | L-SO | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 5 |
2017-10-05 | @OTT | W | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
2018-10-03 | BOS | W | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
2019-10-02 | @STL | W | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
2021-01-14 | @BUF | W | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
2021-10-13 | NYR | W | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 |