from Michael Russo of The Athletic,
In a must-win game, Ovechkin was dislodged from the top line, played on a seldomly deployed line at even strength with Sonny Milano and Hendrix Lapierre, and logged the sixth-lowest ice time (15:26) of his 151-game playoff career.
He finished a playoff series with zero points for the first time in his career and only had six shots.
Why was he almost forgotten in Game 4 during the biggest moments?
The 38-year-old was tired, coach Spencer Carbery alluded, after a torrid second-half pace in which he scored 23 goals and 36 points in the final 36 games to help the Caps make the playoffs on the final day of the regular season.
“He could speak to this, but I think that this year and leaning on him down the stretch the second half of the year, he did an incredible job of finding his game,” Carbery said after Sunday’s 4-2 season-ending loss. “And also not just his game, but we were so scoring-challenged all season long. So the second half of the year, we even become more (feeble offensively). We (trade) Anthony Mantha, (Evgeny Kuznetsov) is out. And then you’ve got (T.J. Oshie) out for a while. So you’ve got all these different factors, right, that make it even more of a challenge for you to produce offensively.
“So he comes in post-February … and so our season is hanging in the balance. … Point I’m getting at is if he doesn’t go on that scoring run … we’re not even sitting up here, right? He was scoring consistently every single night. So what I’m getting at is that was a lot: the second half of the year and especially the last, call it, two weeks, where every game felt like life or death for our team. And again, he could answer that more accurately, but I feel like that took a lot out of him physically and mentally.”
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Reminds me of Zetterberg in his final years. I remember reading some time ago that hockey players don't play as hard as they could during the regular season because it's such a long season and a grind. That's why when playoffs start, it's like the game goes to another level, because they play harder and elevate each others' game.
But then you get cases this year like with Ovie and Sidney where they are playing at a playoff intensity for months during the regular season. Again, Z did that for a few years, too. And I think Larkin is doing that as well. Unfortunately it's unsustainable.
I think if Ovie can play two more season's he'll break the record, which is just nuts. I would love to see it be broken, and I hope he does it. If he doesn't, you have to wonder how long it'll stand.
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