The Washington Capitals are playoff bound and they have been for a while now. The road to the playoffs in the Eastern Conference has been a little anticlimactic down the stretch as the eight teams which will battle it out for Lord Stanley’s Mug in 10 days has been determined for the last couple of months.
But despite the fact the Capitals have not had to play a lot of meaningful games lately, they are getting a brilliant season once again from the heart and soul of the franchise, their captain, Alexander Ovechkin of Moscow, Russia. Just how brilliant has Ov been? Well on Wednesday, he scored his 50th goal of the season in a 4-3 Capitals overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. This ties Ovechkin with the late Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky for the most 50-goal seasons in NHL history with nine.
In 2021-22, Ovechkin has 50 goals and 40 assists for 90 points. He is one of four players this season to record 50 goals. The others are Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs (58), Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers (54), and Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers (51). Ovechkin also is a +9 with 18 penalty minutes, 29 power-play points, one shorthanded goal, five game-winning goals, a NHL-leading 330 shots on goal, four faceoff wins, 24 blocked shots, 152 hits, 31 takeaways, and 48 giveaways. With Ovechkin playing at a high level, the Capitals are at +2400 in winning the Stanley Cup according to XBet.
Related: Hockey Legend Mike Bossy dies of cancer at age 65
NHL playing in Europe in 2022-23
Speaking of Europe, the continent that Ovechkin hails from, the NHL announced four regular season games will be played in Europe in 2022-23. The Nashville Predators will play the San Jose Sharks on October 7 and 8 in Prague, Czech Republic. Then, the Columbus Blue Jackets will platy the Colorado Avalanche November 4 and 5 in Tampere, Finland. These will be the first NHL games played outside of North America since 2019. The reason is because of coronavirus.
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