{"id":260425,"date":"2025-11-03T20:30:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T20:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/260425\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T20:30:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T20:30:11","slug":"ovechkin-staying-upbeat-despite-early-season-struggles-with-capitals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/260425\/","title":{"rendered":"Ovechkin staying upbeat despite early-season struggles with Capitals"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON, Va. — Alex Ovechkin<\/a>\u2019s road to becoming the first player to score 900 NHL goals has been a slog through the first month of this season.<\/p>\n

The NHL\u2019s all-time leader in goals has scored twice in the Washington Capitals\u2019 first 12 games, including none in the past four, leaving him stuck on 899 heading into a visit from the St. Louis Blues at Capital One Arena in Washington on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, MNMT, truTV, TNT).<\/p>\n

But Ovechkin is doing his best not to get frustrated.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, a little struggling,\u201d the 40-year-old forward said Monday. \u201cBut overall, we just have to stick to the plan and keep working and eventually you will score.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ovechkin didn\u2019t go more than three games without scoring a goal last season and tied for third in the NHL with 44 despite missing 16 games with a fractured left fibula. That included scoring his 895th goal to overtake Wayne Gretzky<\/a> (894) for the most in NHL history on April 6 at the New York Islanders.<\/p>\n

But the goals have not come easily for the Capitals captain thus far this season, his 21st in the NHL. This is his second four-game goal drought, including one to start the season.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s hoping his next goal will start one of his hot streaks that helped him break a record most previously thought was unreachable. Ovechkin had six goals during a five-game goal streak that culminated with his record-breaking goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you can\u2019t score like five or six games, and then you score 10 games in a row,\u201d he said. \u201cSo yeah, we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capitals coach Spencer Carbery views Ovechkin\u2019s early-season struggles as emblematic of Washington\u2019s problems producing offensively as a team. The Capitals (6-5-1) are tied with the Philadelphia Flyers for 26th in the NHL by averaging 2.58 goals per game and have scored only five goals in their past four (0-3-1). Washington was second in the League last season with 3.49 goals per game and finished first in the Eastern Conference (51-22-9).<\/p>\n

Ovechkin, the NHL record holder with 326 power-play goals, usually drives the Capitals power play, but he has yet to score on the man-advantage. Washington is 26th in the League at 15 percent (6-for-40).<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, 5-on-5 I haven\u2019t minded his game overall through the first 12 games,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cPower play has been an issue, and that\u2019s a product of our whole power play as a group. So, I think that negatively affects him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he\u2019s not getting opportunities, [offensive]-zone time, his shot off, scoring chances, you name it, it\u2019s not a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ovechkin acknowledged that missing about a week of training camp with a lower-body injury potentially contributed to lack of production so far. He returned for Washington\u2019s final two preseason games, but his timing still appears to be off 12 games into the regular season.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, it [stinks] when in training camp you try to get in shape and you miss the ice, you miss off-ice workouts,\u201d Ovechkin said. \u201cBut right now, you just have to catch your timing and, obviously, you don\u2019t have to think about it much. As soon as you start thinking about, \u2018Well, you scored two goals in 12 games,\u2019 or whatever, you\u2019re just going to put pressure on yourself. You don\u2019t have to do it. You just have to go out there and do as much as you can and the best that you can for your team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each of Ovechkin\u2019s goals this season — against the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 17 and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 24. — came on won face-off plays in the right circle. He\u2019s had games where he\u2019s had multiple chances but was unable to finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON, Va. — Alex Ovechkin\u2019s road to becoming the first player to score 900 NHL goals has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-260425","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}