Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin said the loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round of the NHL playoffs left him with the emptiest feeling days later.
He said he was so stunned by the fact that his team’s playoff run was over just like that, and that he couldn’t begin to describe how much it hurts to come up short of their goal.
He said he plans on taking some significant time away from hockey for both physical and mental reasons. He hopes to heal up some injuries he played through during the playoffs as well as give himself a mental break from the spot.
He has head back home to Russia to spend some time there relaxing and then doing what he likes to do best, which is going out and partying it up into the early morning hours.
Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 9:52 am by steve
Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin has begun what has become an annual tradition of racking up awards following the season.
This year’s first award comes via the Sporting News, who named Ovechkin is Player of the Year.
The forward led the league in goals for the second straight year despite missing time early in the year to visit his gravely ill grandfather and struggled in his return to the ice.
He eventually caught fire and had his usual array of absolutely dazzling goals that found their way to YouTube.
Ovechkin helped lead the Capitals to the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and the second round of the playoffs before his team bowed out in an ugly performance in Game 7, albeit no fault of his.
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 12:27 pm by danny
The Washington Capitals put up their worst playoff performance at a bad time, losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-2, and eliminating them from postseason play.
It was an extremely disappointing end to what was a fantastic series, one in which the Capitals jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
Game 7 was all about the defensive play, and it wasn’t good from the Capitals. Simeon Varlamov was eventually pulled out of the game after allowing four goals, though they were hardly all his fault.
The defense in front of him failed on numerous occasions to clear the puck out of their zone, and the team also had way too many turnovers that led to odd man rushes.
The Capitals will now need to regroup in the offseason and add some quality defenseman if they want to get further in the playoffs next season.
Sunday, May 17, 2009 at 11:03 am by Chaitanya
The Washington Capitals have quickly squandered their 2-0 series lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins, losing their second straight game, this time in a sloppy, 5-3 loss.
The Capitals seemed like they didn’t even really care to be on the ice, quickly falling behind 3-1 after the first period.
Rookie goaltender Simeon Varlamov, who has been nothing short of sensational in the playoffs, really struggled in Game 4 and let a number of shots into the back of the net that weren’t that hard to save.
The team has less than 24 hours between the end of Game 4 and the start of Game 5 to regroup, so you hope that Varlamov doesn’t have any confidence issues.
The one bit of good news is the Capitals have still held serve at home, and it is now essentially down to a three-game series, with two of the contests being played in Washington.
Saturday, May 9, 2009 at 11:04 am by Chaitanya
The Washington Capitals completed a rally from a 3-1 deficit with a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers in Game 7.
The Capitals started out very sluggish but eventually turned it on with the game tied at 1 in the third period.
With around five minutes to play in regulation, Sergei Fedorov rippled a slapper past Henrik Lundqvist for the game-winner.
The Capitals now move on to the second round for a big showdown with a very familiar foe: the rival Pittsburgh Penguins.
It will be Alexander Ovechkin matching up with Sidney Crosby in the NHL’s best and most heated rivalry.
Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 12:27 pm by Chaitanya
