The two deadliest shooters from last season had a rough start to this odd year. But as we tear through the small patch of schedule that sits between the halfway point and the home stretch, Alex Ovechkin and Mika Zibanejad are once again terrorizing opponents.
Both players found the net on the weekend, with Ovechkin bagging a brace on Friday in Washington’s 4-0 whitewash of the New Jersey Devils, while Zibanejad was the only Ranger to score in the New York’s tough 2-1 loss to Philadelphia on Saturday.
Ovechkin tallied again when the two went head-to-head on Sunday, as Washington pulled out a 5-4 win in a wild affair that featured six third-period goals.
Ovie, of course, won his eighth Rocket Richard Trophy in the past nine seasons last year thanks to his 48 goals in 68 games. No. 8’s 0.71 goals-per-game clip, however, was actually the second-best mark in the NHL last season behind Zibanejad’s 0.72.
The Rangers centre notched 41 goals in 57 contests, a huge spike for a guy who’d previously scored more like a 30-goal guy than a 50-goal guy.
That jump created a lot of interest around Zibanejad entering this season and, man, did he ever fall short of expectations out of the gate. When Zibanejad woke up on March 17, he had three goals on his scoresheet, fewer than 269 players in the league. Seven guys on the Rangers alone had found the net more frequently than the 27-year-old Swede.
Zibanejad unlocked something when he notched a hat trick that night, though, and he has a league-leading eight goals in seven games since his luck turned on St. Patrick’s Day. Five of those tallies have come with the man advantage, two were even-strength markers and he even threw in a shorty as 33.3 per cent of Zibanejad’s shots have been finding the net.
As for Ovechkin, the greatest goal-scorer of his — and possibly any — generation was always going to get the benefit of the doubt in terms of finding his stroke. That said, the Capitals captain did have a particularly lousy go of it for the first six weeks of the season.
Ovie was one of four Capitals to be suspended four games for breaking league COVID-19 protocols at the end of January. When February concluded, the usually lethal left-winger was tied for 75th in goal scoring with six tallies.
Since the calendar flipped to March, though, the 35-year-old has been in vintage form. Ovechkin’s 11 goals in the month tie him with Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen for most on the circuit. Along the way, he passed Phil Esposito for sixth place on the all-time goals list.
Washington — which hasn’t won a playoff series since claiming the 2018 Stanley Cup — is slugging it out with the Islanders and Penguins for top spot in the East Division. The Rangers, meanwhile, are struggling to stay relevant in the East playoff picture — especially after going zero-for-four on available points this weekend
Even if the Blueshirts can’t hang with clubs of the Caps’ calibre just yet, it will be interesting to see whether Zibanejad can keep scoring and prove he belongs in the conversation perpetually headlined by Ovechkin about the best goal-scorers on Earth.
Other Takeaways
• Is it time to reconsider those Nashville trade proposals? While we’ve all been busy finding potential landing spots for the likes of Mattias Ekholm and Filip Forsberg, the Preds have managed to completely turn their season around. Nashville put together back-to-back victories in Chicago on Saturday and Sunday, thus leapfrogging the Blackhawks team it was chasing in a Central Division playoff race that seemed to have long ago left the Predators in the dust. Nashville is 7-1-0 in its past eight and holds the final Central berth by virtue of having more non-shootout wins than Chicago.
It took a bit longer than some hoped, but 2017 first-rounder Eeli Tolvanen is starting to make good on the promise he showed as a prospect. Fellow Finns Juuse Saros and Pekka Rinne have been sensational in the crease of late, especially Saros and his .977 save percentage during his past five outings.
Also — and perhaps we’re all guilty of overlooking this a bit — Nashville has been battered by injuries to key players like Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis and Matt Duchene. This weekend marked Josi’s third and fourth games back in the lineup, while Ellis and Duchene could both return around the April 12 trade deadline. Will this soaring team really still be sellers leading up to that day?
• It was awful watching Aaron Ekblad writhe around in panicked pain on Sunday evening after he got tangled up in the corner with Dallas’s Esa Lindell.
Here’s hoping the Norris-calibre defenceman — whose overtime winner for Florida versus Dallas on Saturday was his 11th goal of the season, giving him a share of top spot for goals by D-men — is back to his dominant self whenever he’s able to return to the Panthers blueline.
• It took two tries, but the National Women’s Hockey League was finally able to hand out the 2021 Isobel Cup on Saturday. The league’s original championship tournament in Lake Placid, N.Y., was cut short in January because COVID-19 couldn’t be contained. This time out, playing at the Boston Bruins practice facility, the hometown Boston Pride beat the Minnesota Whitecaps 4-3 in a “re-match” of the 2020 Isobel Cup that had to be cancelled just before it happened 12 months ago.
Woke up in the morning feeling like, Isobel Cup Champions pic.twitter.com/ACUtuhQmfg
— Boston Pride (@TheBostonPride) March 28, 2021
Weekend Warrior
Phil Kessel scored a hat trick on Saturday night, 24 hours after ripping home a goal on Friday in his 1,100th career NHL game. Arizona defeated the San Jose Sharks in both contests, as the Coyotes keep hanging around in the West Division playoff picture. Kessel’s first goal on Saturday was exactly what I’ll always remember this guy for; low, deadly accurate wrister to the corner of the net.
Fun fact: Kessel leads Arizona with 14 goals this year, but if you remove his first two outings of the season and his most recent three, he actually has just six tallies in 30 contests. He may not be the model of consistency in the desert, but he still leads the league in “guy who kinda makes you grin any time you think of him.”
The Week Ahead
• After tying Mark Messier on the weekend, Patrick Marleau will move into sole possession on the all-time games played list when he suits up for No. 1,757 on Monday night in San Jose. Marleau is two weeks away from passing “Mr. Hockey” for first place.
• After being waylaid for a week due to a positive COVID-19 test on the team, the Habs — if all tests go the way they hope today — will be back in action Tuesday night, hosting the Edmonton Oilers. Montreal still managed to stay busy on the weekend, trading for Eric Staal on Friday and signing Hobey Baker finalist Cole Caufield on Saturday.
