Alex Ovechkin is now 10 games into his comeback from a broken leg that he suffered against Utah HC on November 18. After scoring four goals in his first five games since returning, the Washington Capitals captain has been quiet in his last five games, scoring just one empty-netter.
Overall, the Capitals captain has gone without a point in four of his last five outings. After the team’s practice on Wednesday, head coach Spencer Carbery was asked to give his thoughts on Ovechkin’s recent performance.
“It’s been solid, okay,” Carbery said. “I think we really have to be careful to judge, just coming back from the injury. It’s harder than I think people may realize just because the rest of the league and the rest of the players are in mid-season form right now. And to miss a month and then try to get back up and running at 39 is a lot easier said than done.
“So, I think if you look into the numbers and that stuff, that’s probably what you’re seeing is him getting back up to speed. It’s going to take some time. We know that. I know that. He probably wants that to be rushed as we do as well, but it’s going to take some time.”
After jumping back into the lineup, Ovechkin was returned to the Capitals’ first line, playing with his regular centerman, Dylan Strome, for the first nine games. The connection between the two top-line forwards, red-hot to start the year, did not pick up where it had left off.
In those nine games, the Capitals saw just 42.1 percent of shot attempts, 32.3 percent of expected goals, 35.2 percent of scoring chances, and 27.3 percent of high-danger chances with Ovechkin and Strome on the ice at five-on-five. The club was also outscored 4-2 during those minutes.
Due to those results and the team’s overall inconsistency in recent weeks, Carbery recently moved to reformat his top six. Ovechkin played with Pierre-Luc Dubois for the first time this season against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night. Aliaksei Protas joined the two to complete the line.
“I thought they were okay,” Carbery said. “They’re on the ice for [John Carlson’s] goal. They don’t really have much to do with it. It’s a turnover. Protas’s pass is deflected and arguably is a turnover, but they turn it back over, and we end up scoring. So yeah, I just thought there were some good shifts in there and there were some not-so-good sequences.
“I thought we turned it over a little too frequently in the second period. There were some missed passes. Dubie tries to pass to him on the one it turns over. O turns one over inside the blueline that [Anaheim] gets the grade-A [chance] on. There was a little bit of – I don’t know if you want to call it miscommunication or just not being on the same page with some of our puck play, but hopefully, that gets cleaned up in Ottawa.”
While Carbery wasn’t entirely thrilled with how the new top trio looked, they provided the first positive results for an Ovechkin line since his return. With the three on the ice at five-on-five, Washington held positive differentials in shot attempts (+4), shots on goal (+4), scoring chances (+3), and expected goals (+0.08). Dubois also recorded his 27th assist of the season on Ethen Frank’s second-period goal.
However, the next test for the line will come on the road against a better team in the form of the Ottawa Senators. Ottawa has won three games in a row, and their head coach, Travis Green, will have the benefit of getting whatever matchup he wants against the Capitals’ top line due to NHL home teams always getting the last change.
“I think we’ll stay with it and just see where it goes tomorrow night,” Carbery said. “It’s going to be more challenging being on the road, not being able to control the matchup. And they’ve got some high-end elite-level skaters and forwards. And then on the back end as well with [Jake] Sanderson and Thomas Chabot.”
Thursday night’s matchup with the Senators is Washington’s first of the 2024-25 campaign. Ottawa is allowing the 10th-fewest goals per game in the league (2.77), and Ovechkin did not score once against them in three games last season.
