The Washington Capitals suffered a 5-4 shootout loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday night. In the game, Alex Ovechkin reached another milestone, his 1,500th career NHL point, with an assist on a Dylan Strome goal.
Ovechkin did not score a goal himself, his eighth game in a row without hitting the back of the net. This cold streak comes during a stretch of games that also saw him play the least amount of minutes of his career in a non-injury or ejection game.
The Great Eight has gone without a goal for eight-straight games just five total times in his career.
- 10 games from February 22, 2017 through March 12, 2017
- 9 games from October 13, 2008 through November 8, 2008
- 9 games from November 17, 2010 through December 2, 2010
- 8 games from December 9, 2010 through December 23, 2010
- 8 games from November 22, 2023 through December 7, 2023
Ovechkin has just five total goals through 23 games this season which is a shade under an 18-goal pace over a full 82-game schedule. That is by far the worst scoring start to a season in his career and would see him checking in with his lowest overall total number of goals in a season by six if he doesn’t turn things around. And, that previous low, a 24-goal season, came in the pandemic shortened 2020-21 campaign where he played in just 45 games.
Given his noted struggles and advanced age, concerns are starting to be raised about his chase of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record. If his rate does not increase and he just maintains his current pace for the next few years, he would need to sign another contract to take down The Great One.
There are, of course, some extenuating factors playing into Ovechkin’s overall lack of production. First and foremost, he has yet to score a single time from his “office” on the team’s power play this season. The Capitals’ power play is the worst in the NHL, operating at just nine percent effectiveness. While they have scored power play goals in two of their last four games, the progress with that special teams unit has been slow despite personnel changes and some structural tweaks.
Another factor is that Ovechkin simply has not gotten any puck luck this season. His overall shooting percentage sits at just six percent, 8.3 percentage points lower than last season. At five-on-five, he has scored on only one of his 45 shots, a 2.2 shooting percentage, or about 10 percentage points off recent seasons. On the power play, Ovechkin has scored one goal on 32 shots, a 3.1 shooting percentage, again about 10 points off recent seasons.
A majority of the games during this eight-game drought have also seen Ovechkin lined up with center Evgeny Kuznetsov. That connection has not worked, to say the least. In the 96 minutes of five-on-five play that Kuznetsov and Ovechkin have shared, the Capitals have been outscored six goals to two.During that time, the Capitals have also controlled just 40.4 percent of the shot attempts, 32.2 percent of the expected goals, 35.5 percent of the scoring chances, and 26.6 percent of the high-danger chances.
Simply put, Ovechkin was spending almost the entirety of his shifts next to Kuznetsov in his own defensive zone. The more time you spend in the defensive zone, the less volume you see go towards the opposition’s net and the less goals you score. More games next to Dylan Strome, who is Ovechkin’s recent center and was all around the net on Thursday, should be good for Ovechkin’s future numbers.
To avoid going without a goal for nine-straight games for just the fourth time in his career, Ovechkin will need to dent the twine against the New York Rangers on Saturday. The Rangers are a team that Ovechkin has scored 42 times against in 71 past career games. He has only scored more goals in his career against six other franchises.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
