An Ovechkin goal scoring slump? Coach Boudreau isn't concerned

Fortify the wall and call the county militia to high alert! In a shocking development that is sure to send tremors up and down I-95 through Maryland, Virginia and of course Washington D.C.,  Alexander Ovechkin hasn’t scored a goal in five games. Five games!

Okay, we’ll relax a little bit and call off the National Guard. For most players five games wouldn’t seem that long a time to go without a goal. Hell John Erskine went 109 games before finally scoring a goal again this season, but five games for a player  as good as Ovechkin can seem like an eternity. Fear not though says Bruce Boudreau, who spoke to reporters after practice.

“Every year I’ve been here, Alex has had a little bit of a stretch where he just can’t find the net and then the next thing you know once he gets one in, he gets ten in four games. That’s the way’s he’s been and this is his little funk. I expect him to come out of it very soon.”

If last year is any indication, coach Boudreau has a point.  

After not scoring a goal in a nine game stretch in the opening stages of the 08-09 season, Alex went Chernobyl on opposing goaltenders, exploding for eleven goals in a ten game stretch and scoring at least one goal in all but two of those ten games.

As for the here and now, Bruce said he didn’t think it was completely Alex’s fault that he was somewhat invisible in the Caps last game.

“I thought he (Ovechkin) started very well in the last game. He had a really good first period but then we ran into all the problems and all the penalties and he ended up sitting and getting cold and didn’t get as much ice time as normal but I never worry about Alex. It’s a so-called slump for him but he’s still number one in the league.  (In points)

….

As he sat Steckel and Bradley in the Capitals last game on Friday, Bruce will indeed make another adjustment tonight as Brendan Morrison will get a press box seat for this one tonight against the Rangers.

It’s a smart move, as in my opinion Morrison’s play has fallen off from earlier in the season. The move makes sense for yet another reason though that has nothing to do with Morrison.

The Capitals with an astronomical 28 point lead on the second closest team in the Southeast and a 14 point lead in the East on the second place Pittsburgh Penguins have a luxury that few others have. Simply put, the consequence for losing games isn’t as high for them as other teams in the league, so with the season winding down, the Capitals can afford to look toward the playoffs in setting their lineups by keeping everyone fresh.  “It’s not four games before the playoffs yet we want to be at least sure that everyone is going to be at least game ready to play and if you went with your potential playoff lineup for every night. ..In our position that means it might be a month or two months before guys get in a game and I don’t want that to happen,” said Boudreau after practice.

Now obviously not every team in the league can afford to play guys in regular season games that they wouldn’t be in otherwise. Take tonight's opponent, the New York Rangers for instance, who as Bruce pointed out, need to play a lineup that looks the same in regular season games as it would in the playoffs. New York right now is in a very tight race just to make the playoffs and needs every single one of its NHLworthy players to play and can afford no playing time to those at the bottom of the depth chart

The Capitals on the other hand are sitting pretty in first place and have such a bevy of talent that for coach Boudreau, it at times must be hard to know just who should play and who should sit. Let’s call it a good problem to have.