Friday, April 18, 2008

Bouncing Back

As you know, Alex Ovechkin was held to just one shot on goal in last night's double overtime loss to the Flyers.

A quick glance at how AO followed up each of the games in which he had two or fewer shots on goal this past regular season:
  • 0 SOG @ NYI (10/8); Next game: 1 goal, 7 SOG @ NYR
  • 2 SOG @ ATL (11/6); Next game: 1 goal, 1 assist 10 SOG @ OTT
  • 1 SOG vs. NJD (12/10); Next game: 1 goal, 5 SOG vs. NYR
  • 2 SOG @ NYI (12/22); Next game: 1 assist, 3 SOG vs. TBL
  • 2 SOG @ PIT (12/27); Next game: 4 goals, 1 assist, 5 SOG @ OTT
  • 2 SOG vs. TOR (1/24); Next game: 0 points, 4 SOG @ MTL
  • 1 SOG vs. NYI (2/20); Next game: 3 assists, 8 SOG @ CAR
  • 2 SOG @ NJD (2/29); Next game: 1 goal, 1 assist, 4 SOG vs. TOR
  • 2 SOG @ CHI (3/19); Next game: 2 goals, 2 assists, 9 SOG @ ATL
That's nine games in which opponents held Ovechkin to two or fewer shots on goal, and he has rebounded with an average of 1.4 goals, 1.0 assists and 6.1 shots on goal. He has only been held off the score sheet in one of those nine games (and then only because he faced an amazing goalie) and scored at least one goal in two-thirds of them.

Point being, you can't keep a good man down... and Alex is a very, very good man.

7 comments:

Salmon said...

But a good man can be in a slump.

Anonymous said...

thank goodness for the new thread...

I don't think OV is in a slump, he's just getting handled by the Flyers collective efforts. And he's not playing good enough in the defensive zone; witness the GWG last night.

That said, I think the Caps found some formulas that worked last night: the soft angled dump ins that prevent Biron from playing the puck made our forecheck more effective; the PP was improved with a man in front (duh) causing some commotion; all four lines played pretty well at times.

Just wasn't enough, and so we're back against the wall. Hopefully we can rebound.

Anonymous said...

Hey Stat boy, yesterday your numbers did'nt pan out what makes you think these will?

JP said...

I have no idea why I'm engaging here, but my stats yesterday did pan out. The Caps had a 40% chance of winning. That's less than 50%, which is an equal chance of winning and losing. The Caps proceeded to lose, which they were more likely to do by virtue of their odds of winning being less than 50%. Hence, my stats panned out.

Now run along - your mom probably needs to use the computer, and you need to take a bath before bed time anyway.

Anonymous said...

pwnd

Anonymous said...

Caps in 7.

Salmon said...

Flyers in 6.

I'm also interested to see how many more Flyers fans there are tomorrow, since I think these tickets went on sale after the Flyers knew they were playing the Caps.

But I could be wrong.