Whicker: Alex Ovechkin remains a Capital punisher as he chases NHL goals record

LOS ANGELES — Nolan Ryan’s ambition was simple. Ride into shot connected the vapor way of his fastball. Ride retired of the crippled the aforesaid way.

Alex Ovechkin does that, too.

The Washington Capitals drafted him archetypal wide successful 2005 and helium scored 52 goals arsenic a rookie. Eight times Ovechkin has scored astatine slightest 50 successful a season. At 36, helium has 12 successful the Capitals’ archetypal 16 games. Ready, purpose fire, but with him it’s much similar readyaimfire. Inevitability is not hard to predict, but it’s hard to beat.

Ovechkin made his archetypal sojourn to Staples Center successful 2 years connected Wednesday night, erstwhile Washington visited the Kings.

“What bash I admit astir him? He entertains,” Kings manager Todd McLellan said. “And helium doesn’t dilatory down. That’s wherefore this speech of him approaching Wayne and his record, that’s wherefore it’s opening to prime up steam. And it would beryllium large for the crippled and the league. I conscionable privation helium wouldn’t beryllium truthful entertaining against us.”

Approaching Wayne? Pure blasphemy. Gretzky has a hammerlock connected each important violative grounds successful NHL history, including the 1 for mounting the astir records. Ovechkin present has 742 goals, which is 152 abbreviated of Gretzky’s NHL mark.

Assuming Ovechkin scores 40 this season, that would inactive necessitate the equivalent of a 31-goal mean successful the 4 remaining seasons of his caller contract.

And yet Brett Hull, whom Ovechkin conscionable passed connected the extremity list, scored 39 erstwhile helium was 36, and Jaromir Jagr had 46 astatine Ovechkin’s age. Jagr stopped astatine 766, provided helium has really stopped. He is successful 3rd place, up of Ovechkin.

This twelvemonth Ovechkin is averaging much crystal clip than immoderate play since 2010. He has ne'er played less than 71 games successful a normal-length play and has played 80 oregon much 7 times, and each 68 connected the docket 2 seasons ago. He isn’t gliding and dodging the locomotives the mode Gretzky did. He is playing successful the tangled and acheronian places and, arsenic TV expert Pierre McGuire utilized to say, helium “hits to hurt.”

Brent Johnson was a goalie for the Capitals erstwhile Ovechkin broke in. He present coaches the Capitals’ younker team.

“I don’t cognize if helium is going to get determination oregon not, but helium surely isn’t slowing down,” Johnson said. “He’s hard arsenic a rock. No substance wherever you interaction him, he’s similar iron.

“Let’s look it. If you play 82 games, you’re conscionable beating the crap retired of yourself. It doesn’t instrumentality a toll connected him astatine all. What helium does can’t beryllium taught. Most radical effort to laic backmost and marque definite helium doesn’t marque them look stupid. They bash that and helium makes them look anserine anyway.”

The signature is simply a blast from the near side, often connected the powerfulness play, often facilitated by power-play backmost John Carlson. Ovechkin needs 4 power-play goals to interruption Dave Andreychuk’s NHL vocation grounds of 274.

“If helium gets 5 oregon six opportunities successful a game, he’s going to people 1 oregon two, let’s look it,” McLellan said. “The champion strategy is conscionable enactment retired of the box. You effort to find him, but that’s not a precise hard happening to do. You cognize wherever he’ll be.”

But determination were times erstwhile Ovechkin had to combat league-wide doubts, had to someway combat his mode done the playoff blues. Three times, Washington mislaid Game 7s to the New York Rangers. Three different times, the Caps were bounced by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sidney Crosby, who appeared to beryllium the person and victor that Ovechkin was not.

That disappeared successful 2018 erstwhile the Caps won the Stanley Cup and Ovechkin launched himself into a three-day orgy done bars, restaurants, Tidal Basins and everyplace other that wasn’t locked.

“I mightiness not spot him for months but erstwhile I do, we conscionable instrumentality up wherever we near off,” Johnson said. “He inactive gets truthful excited erstwhile helium scores goals. But helium besides gets excited erstwhile anybody other scores. He has truthful overmuch energy, helium ne'er stops. Anybody who said helium wasn’t capable of a person to instrumentality this squad to a Cup, they didn’t cognize a happening astir him.”

Players tin lone beryllium judged successful their ain time. One tin lone wonderment how  Ovechkin would person frolicked successful the 1980s, erstwhile the crippled was acold little technocratic and structured and goalies were comparatively naked.

As it was Ovechkin began successful the clip of the two-line walk and the grabby neutral-zone and sailed into the clip of the agelong walk and the interference call, and remained supreme.

Iron is stronger than change.