Alex Ovechkin has had a lot of highlight reel goals throughout his career, but recently he hasn't shown the explosiveness he used to have when he was more confident - until last night.
Ovechkin pulled out one of his old tricks - or should I say his trick finally worked - when he danced around Avs defenseman Jan Hejda, shot the puck wide on his backhand and tucked in the rebound just as he went behind the net.
It was a pretty goal, but a lucky one.
Ovechkin has used that same move time and time again, and most times fails to pull it off. What is great about this goal is the fact that Ovechkin kept attacking the puck and found a way to make the goal happen even though the play could have easily died.
Lately, we're used to seeing Ovechkin fire the puck from all sorts of angles and try to power it through - most times watching it sail wide or get blocked. What this goal could mean is that Ovechkin could gain the confidence to push through the defense like he used to and drive the net instead of peel off and get himself caught on the boards.
What I also liked about the play is the fact it came from the right side.
Adam Oates experimented with Ovechkin last season and it seemed to work. Ovechkin has a better opportunity to get a shooting lane from that angle and any time he fires the puck and hits the net is a scoring chance. He's becoming, sadly, predictable again on the left side and often finds his chances stunted before he has a chance to create them. He finds himself caught and the play gets broken - sometimes leading to odd-man rushes and goals against.
Does this mean we'll see Ovechkin play some right wing? No. The Caps have too many right wingers at the moment, however we could see Ovechkin swing to that side more often to change the point of attack. It could open up a lot more ice for him.
Ovechkin won the game with that goal, and that's all that really matters. He showed his determination in winning the game for his team.
Let's hope that keeps up.
More to come...
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