As we prepare for Washington Capitals hockey's 50th anniversary season, it's time for some more lessons and a refresher course in what will be a monumental season for the franchise itself.
What is a point in hockey?
In regular season hockey, points are awarded for wins or overtime losses. One of the most controversial aspects of the Eastern Conference playoff race was that Detroit Red Wings fans, Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers fans alike complained about the points system. In the end, the Caps needed to win it all to advance, and they did just that.
Statistically, points are scored when you score a goal or an assist. For example, if Alex Ovechkin scores two goals and one assist in a random game, then Ovechkin will have three points that night.
Has coach Dylan Strome been hearing a lot from Alex Ovechkin over the summer?
“Just memes. He loves memes and he sends me loads of them… We send each other memes here and there. He's got a pretty good sense of humor so it's always fun to hear from him” https://t.co/3MZqWo3P7v
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) July 22, 2024
In other Ovechkin news, he recently said that he would have already broken Wayne Gretzky's goal record if it weren't for the lockout and pandemic. We agree that if none of those things had happened, we'd all be writing our countdown to 1,000 goals articles right now.
Ovechkin scored 853 career goals this season, just 41 of his 894 career goals. Many thought it was impossible for him to reach that number, but Ovechkin can do the impossible. Ovechkin was drafted in 2004, and fans had to wait a full year to see him play in a Capitals uniform. That's one full season now.
Then in 2020, the world came to a screeching halt just before Ovechkin was on a roll. Ovechkin recently spoke about the trials of the past 19 years in a Russian-language interview on the podcast Amirian Sardarov. In the interview, transcribed by sports.ru, Ovechkin said the following, translated into English using Google Translate:
“If it weren't for the lockout and the pandemic, I think Gretzky's record would have been broken by now, but unfortunately those moments happen.”
– Alex Ovechkin
According to Chris Cerullo of RMNB, Ovechkin has missed a total of 59 games in his career, 35 of which were due to injury. Unfortunately, he missed another 155 games due to the lockout and pandemic. But the game has changed over the last few years, and it's harder than ever to earn points on the ice in the NHL. But what sets Ovechkin apart is that he finds a way to make it easy.
