Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin had some very interesting parting words before he joined the Russian national team at the World Championships. A disappointing Game 7 loss should irritate Ovechkin, but it's not exactly something he's not familiar with. His team tends to exit in seven games quite often, giving fans high hopes then breaking their hearts.
It must be frustrating for the captain to not have playoff success, but when you couple that with constant comments about how he under produces in the post season, it hits a nerve. Factor in the fact that he basically single-handedly drug his team to their final Southeast Division championship, and it's perfectly understandable to see why this off-season and the criticism is more annoying than usual.
That still doesn't excuse his exit comments, which varied from "they [the NHL] wanted a game seven. For ratings. You know, lockout, escrow, league must make profit." to stating that Henrik Lundqvist pretty much won the series for the Rangers, to "this is a team loss" when pressed about his one goal on 30 shots. All I caught when I read what Ovechkin had to say was excuse after excuse.
Lundqvist didn't score five goals in game seven. The NHL doesn't pull strings or throw games or anything like that. And yes, while it's a team game, when the questions pertain to you, you address them as such. Saying "oh, well the team lost" is accurate, and I can't blame Ovechkin for getting frustrated that everyone is focused on him. When you're the captain of a team, that team's best player, and one of the greatest players on the face of the earth, you need to learn to expect those questions to be asked. Just answer them and move on.
It doesn't help that Capitals GM George McPhee is also complaining about the lack of powerplays. There's a lot of buck-passing in the Caps' organization. That's not how you regroup for the next season, especially when the Southeast and easy points are no more.
