Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Ovechkin takes comfort in scoring chances

Alex Ovechkin

Despite scoring just twice his Washington’s first nine games, Alex Ovechkin is feeling good heading into tonight’s home game versus the Leafs.

“If I don’t have the chances, I say, ‘Okay, what’s wrong with me? What’s stopping me?’” Ovechkin said today, per the Washington Post. “But last two games, last three games, I have chances. I have opportunities, especially against Pittsburgh. I feel like I have really good chances to score. Sometimes I have to be more concentrate on the puck … A couple times the rebound right there and my stick was high.”

Ovechkin has 34 shots, tied for 10th most among NHL forwards. But the shots aren’t going in at the same rate they usually do. Last season, his shooting percentage was 12.5; this season, it’s 5.9.

In that way, it has to be exasperating for Ovechkin. But hey, at least he’s not Phil Kessel -- Toronto’s snake-bitten sniper has zero goals on 40 shots.

“I know it’s frustrating for both those guys, I’m sure,” Caps coach Adam Oates said today, per the Washington Times. “But are you getting chances? If you’re not getting chances then you got to look in the mirror and like, ‘What’s going on?’ Figure it out. If you’re getting opportunities then I think you’re doing a lot of good things.”

Related: Neuvirth to start versus Leafs as Holtby’s frustration grows