Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that Alex Ovechkin’s magical regular season has carried into the postseason, but that’s exactly what happened Monday night in the U.S. capital.
The Washington Capitals star forward, after breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal-scoring record now with 879 career goals, scored twice including his first career overtime playoff winner, as the Capitals outlasted the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 to take a 1-0 best of seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series lead.
Ovechkin’s former head coach in Washington, and current Capitals pre and postgame analyst, Bruce Boudreau joined the Niagara Sports Report on Newstalk 610 CKTB over the weekend to discuss the man they call the Great 8.
“Who would have thought of ever beating Wayne’s record,?” said Boudreau “Quite frankly, I’m at the rink watching him a lot, and he had a look in his eye that I haven’t seen since 2011 and he was determined.
And he’s scoring the way he used to score with that shot, coming down the middle, one-timing, and everything else. I thought his year was spectacular.”
What makes Ovechkin’s 2024-25 season even more special, people forget he actually broke his leg before returning to break Gretzky’s record.
“To imagine he got 44 goals, and in the course of that had a broken leg where he missed 16 games, and it took him four to five games to get back in the flow. I find it incredible,” Boudreau said.
Scoring goals is one thing, but what Boudreau discussed next will perhaps add to Ovechkin’s legacy.
“I find him a better leader now then he was, and I don’t mean this in a negative way, the stuff that he’s done bringing everybody back on the ice for Marc Andre Fleury, with Matt Martin (retiring this season) – he’s been the complete leader, not just the on-ice hockey leader. His growth is amazing, and what he’s done for hockey in the DC area there’s no words for it.”
Before coaching Boudreau played professionally including with the then AHL (American Hockey League) St. Catharines Saints – farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
St. Catharines is also where Boudreau co-founded the Golden Horseshoe Hockey School which is still running strong forty-plus years later.
One other local note from the Washington-Montreal series is former Brock Badger, goaltender, Logan Thompson who returned from injury to make 33 saves and pick up the win in Game 1.
And while Montreal and the Capitals will play Game 2 Wednesday night in Washington, two other Canadian teams played Monday with Winnipeg taking a 2-0 series lead on St. Louis with a 2-1 victory, and Edmonton dropping a 6-5 decision in Los Angeles as the Kings lead this best of seven set 1-0.
The Battle of Ontario resumes Tuesday evening with Toronto home and up 1-0 on Ottawa.
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
