Alex Ovechkin Is Finally Awake For Washington Capitals

The NHL has been built on the strength of their superstars and when they aren’t performing, the league is usually in big trouble.

One of those stars in recent years has been Alex Ovechkin, who has had two straight down seasons coming into 2013, but appears to be waking up at the right time for the Washington Capitals with 32 points in 33 games this season. Ovechkin is leading the Capitals with 16 goals and for a player who has scored 50 or more goals in four different seasons, it is good to see him finally putting the puck back in the net again.

Ovechkin has really come to life during the month of March with 17 points in 14 games, including eight goals. He has been amazing in his last five, with five goals and four assists as Washington won three straight games before a loss on Tuesday night.

The Capitals are still alive for the playoffs this season, and Ovechkin could be lining his team up for a potential first-round matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Washington is going to need to jump over a few teams in the Eastern Conference to make that happen, but it is obvious that Ovechkin has decided he wants to play 100 percent all the time. He did get injured on Thursday during practice when a puck hit him in the chin so he could miss Saturday’s game, but I wouldn’t expect that to happen.

He is on too much of a roll right now to allow an injury like that to take him off the ice. Ovechkin is back and the rest of the NHL needs to be alarmed — yet excited — by that development.

Andy Schmidt is a columnist/writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ASchmidtSports, like his Facebook page or add him to your network on Google.