Has anyone seen Alex Ovechkin?
Washington’s superstar goal scorer had missed the first two games of the playoff series against the Rangers, which they led 2-0 after Tuesday’s 4-3 win at the Garden.
The 38-year-old Ovechkin, who leads the Caps with 31 goals this season and is chasing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record, did not take a single shot on target in Game 1 and was limited to just one on Tuesday night. It was just that.
The Rangers are doing such a good job of protecting Ovechkin with their line combination and physicality that they make him so invisible that you wonder if he’s in witness protection.
After the game, Washington coach Spencer Carberry called out his superstar with stunning clarity.
“I thought he looked a little off in the first two games, looked like he was struggling,” Carberry said. “It’s tough. We’re in the middle of the playoffs. He’s a tough matchup.
“But there are two more games. We go home and he’s going to have an opportunity to control the matchup and he’ll be able to turn it around. That’s one thing about him. He can turn things around in one game and suddenly become a difference-maker and help the team win and be the driving force behind winning games on home ice.”
When asked what he sees in Ovechkin’s struggles, Carberry said: [chances]. He should be seen 4-5 times a night, whether he goes in or not.
“He doesn’t look that way. Whether it’s a product of his matchup or a product of the line combination, we have to find a way to get him where he is. It won’t. [Rangers goalie Igor] Shesterkin.
“The next thing I saw was a blocked shot, and I could see he was a little off there, even 6-on-5. [at the end of the game], we won the draw and his shot hit the shin pad. ”
Ovechkin’s struggles also occurred on the defensive end, with Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller scoring a short-handed goal on Ovechkin’s away game that proved to be the game-winning goal.
“When Ovi turns, we give up on the short kid.” [the puck] It was a goal that was really, really hard to give up that went over,” Carberry said. “On the play, he got the puck cross-ice, but he got pressure right away and bobbled it.”
“We’ve done a good job of putting pressure on them,” Mika Zibanejad said of Ovechkin’s Washington power play. “It’s a good power play. We don’t want to give them time or space. If we put pressure on them, we have a chance to come forward and we got some good looks. At least we got one. [from Miller], that was a big thing for us. ”
Carbery vowed his star players would be more productive at home.
“I expect him to step up big in Game 3 because he’s been in situations like this many times,” Carberry said.
