For years, Alex Ovechkin was criticized. In 2014, for instance, Mike Milbury called the Capitals star a “one-dimensional player.” A year earlier, TSN’s Ray Ferraro said Ovechkin didn’t have a “high hockey IQ.”
But over time — most notably by winning a Stanley Cup last year — Ovechkin was able to silence his doubters. His game, too, evolved.
That evolution was on full display Saturday in the Capitals’ 4-3 overtime win over the Carolina Hurricanes. The 33-year-old did not score a goal, but Ovechkin tallied two assists and had a series of bone-crunching hits to help the Capitals take a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Playoffs first-round series.