Ovechkin shines in 7-1 rout of Sharks

SAN JOSE — Alexander the Great ruled the kingdom of Macedonia. Alexander Ovechkin still rules the kingdom of hockey.

Ovechkin continued to defy Father Time with two goals to lead his Washington Capitals to a 7-1 thrashing of the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night at the SAP Center.

Despite turning 40 years old back on September 17th, Number Eight has found the fountain youth in his 21st season with the Caps as he has scored 14 goals and has 29 overall points in 28 games played.

"Ovie" opened up with the game's first goal just before the halfway mark of the first period. San Jose left him all alone in front of the crease and the Russian sniper collected the rebound and beat Sharks starting goalie and fellow countryman Yaroslav Askarov with a quick shot upstairs in the near corner to start the eventual blowout.

Washington continued their assault with three more goals for a four-goal opening 20 minutes. If you were there and had blinked once you probably missed them or your head was too busy spinning around from the Capitals dominance. Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky, who was helpless trying to stop the Capitals offensive explosion, pulled Askarov after Brandon Duhaime's short-handed goal was scored at the 17:07 mark in favor of Alex Nedeljkovic who had to perform mop up duty for the remaining 42 minutes. Askarov gave up four goals on just eight shots.

Ovechkin looked he was going to earn an "Ovechtrick" when he scored his second goal of the contest early in the second period with Washington on the power play. Ryan Leonard, who had a great game with two goals of his own to go along with his four-point performance, set up Ovie with a cross-ice pass through the crease that Ovechkin buried a one-timer for career 911.

In 1519 games, Ovechkin has compiled a first-ballot Hall of Fame career with an additional 741 assists with an amazing plus-minus of 70 and counting. With numbers like those to go along with a Stanley Cup championship back in 2018, it's a wonder what keeps the "Great 8's" motor running after all of his accomplishments. Ovechkin declined to speak to the media after the game (he spoke the night before in Los Angeles after the Caps 3-1 win over the Kings according to Capitals media relations) but he did walk out of the locker room past the media scrum with two of his sticks in hand wearing a red hoodie that had "I am not Michael Jordan" written on the back of it.

Ovechkin continued to build his legacy as he became the third player age 40 or older to record three straight multi-point games in the past 50 years. He joined (former Shark) Ray Whitney who did it in three games in 2012-13 and Igor Larionov who did it in four games in 2000-01.

Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretsky's (the other "Great One") long standing record of 894 goals, a record many believed would never be broken, this past season back on April 6 against the New York Islanders and hasn't looked back in the rear-view mirror ever since. With no site of slowing down anytime soon, Ovechkin could play into his mid 40's and eventually reach the 1,000-goal mark if he chooses to do so.

Capitals head coach Spencer Carberry gushed over his superstar winger after the game when asked how gratifying it was to see the kind of production Ovechkin has given his team just past a quarter of the way through the season.

"Honestly it was sort of in my head cause we've been playing a lot of games lately, so I didn't play him (Ovechkin) much in the third period," said Carberry. "He's chasing a hat trick. Normally in those circumstances, he's going out every second shift. But you gotta be smart about where he's at. He did a great job at helping us build that lead. He's finding himself in and around the net. A great play in those two scenarios."

Carberry continued by iterating he is still amazed at how Ovechkin can put the biscuit in the basket multiple ways and how that has made him the NHL's career leader in goals.

"You can talk about all these different ways with how he scores goals. There's another example of how good his hands are in tight in around the net. Like everybody sees the shot, the one timer, off the rush, in the slot, he can beat a goalie clean. But that's an example tonight of how really good his hands are as a goal scorer. In tight, he's gotta get a puck from his backhand to his forehand and put it into a specific area. And yeah, that was a good example from him tonight."

If this was Ovechkin's final game at The Shark Tank, what a great way to go out as he didn't just give the Capital fans in attendance a happy evening, he gave everyone who witnessed his brilliance something to remember that life begins at age 40 for game's greatest goal scorer of all time.