Holy crap, dude!

Goddamn, Alexander Ovechkin is amazing. I hate the Washington Capitals almost as much as I hate the Detroit Red Wings (and that is a lot of hate there, kids)—but I’ll gladly give this kid his due. He’s got amazing hands, plays a more physical game than you would expect a Russian to play, and….wow. Just wow. If the Capitals ever get their shit together I’ll actually be afraid of them.

I’m finding myself watching last night’s Hurricanes-Capitals game over and over again, because of two things:

1. Alexander Ovechkin


2. The Hurricanes actually scoring power play goals.

Well that and Nicky Wallin’s Steve Smith moment—surely, it is a sign of Laviolette’s “all for one” philosophy that the team rallied from that goal and to a man busted their asses to erase their teammate’s mistake. That, to me, is one of the biggest signs that the team has changed from the Maurice era.

Do I declare the Hurricanes’ power-play woes solved?  Of course not, that would be foolish. The power play is still anemic, when you look at the expanding picture of this season, and it still needs work. But they did look a LOT better last night than they did the first three games of the season, so I hold out hope that this can continue over the course of the season.