When Alex Ovechkin was a rookie, his teammates had been involved he might need a coronary heart assault.
The Washington Capitals ahead, who was 20 when he performed his first NHL recreation in 2005, has all the time executed issues his personal approach. Again then, that meant a pregame routine of three Pink Bulls. When the remainder of his teammates had been consuming Gatorade or water between intervals, Ovechkin was downing soda.
\u201cAll of us simply sat there and mentioned: \u2018Okay, this isn\u2019t sustainable. This child\u2019s going to have a coronary heart assault or one thing,\u2019 \u201d recalled Olaf Kolzig, the previous Capitals star goalie who performed with Ovechkin from 2005 to 2008. \u201cI don\u2019t assume he\u2019s on the identical recreation routine as he was with the Pink Bulls and the Cokes, however I don\u2019t assume he\u2019s consuming the identical quantity of water as everyone else.\u201d
Nineteen seasons later, the small print of that routine have developed, however what stays the identical is Ovechkin\u2019s dedication to his uncommon habits. And after he performed in his 1,four-hundredth recreation Saturday against the Florida Panthers<\/a>, turning into simply the forty first participant in NHL historical past to succeed in that milestone, he was most likely the primary one to do it whereas sipping from a bottle crammed with Pepsi on the bench.
Since coming into the league in 2005, Ovechkin has performed in all however 59 of Washington\u2019s video games, a whopping 96 %. Solely Patrick Marleau, Nicklas Lidstrom, Alex Delvecchio and Gordie Howe had performed in the next proportion of their groups\u2019 video games on the time of their 1,four-hundredth.
\u201cHe\u2019s kind of an enigma,\u201d Kolzig mentioned. \u201cHe most likely doesn\u2019t have the healthiest food regimen on this planet. He likes to have enjoyable with the boys, so he\u2019s not a man that’s continuously looking for the magic elixir so far as diet or exercises. He\u2019s type of an old-school, throwback participant. \u2026 He\u2019s simply a kind of gamers that simply retains ticking.\u201d
Ovechkin doesn\u2019t all the time have a lot time for sentimentality, however Washington\u2019s 38-year-old captain and talisman admitted that this milestone is significant for him.
\u201cIt\u2019s clearly fairly large quantity, a lot of video games. Joyful that I\u2019ve performed these video games in just one group,\u201d Ovechkin mentioned. \u201cIt\u2019s good. \u2026 Due to my dad and mom, give me good well being. I used to be fortunate sufficient to not have large accidents.\u201d
It didn\u2019t take lengthy for Bruce Boudreau, who turned Washington\u2019s coach halfway via Ovechkin\u2019s third season, to establish the traits that made his star participant particular.
\u201cAs soon as I noticed him, it turned actual that I used to be teaching there,\u201d Boudreau mentioned. \u201cHe had that type of influence on me. He was simply all vitality, all go. It actually was \u2018Russian machine doesn\u2019t break\u2019 at the moment. His physique was phenomenal. He simply did issues on the market that, I imply, there\u2019s these sure folks on this planet the place every thing follows them, the place they\u2019re the star individual.\u201d
Of the 59 video games Ovechkin has missed, solely 35 have been due to damage \u2014 together with three he missed this season. However that doesn\u2019t imply Ovechkin, like all hockey gamers, hasn\u2019t performed via accidents.
Certainly one of Boudreau\u2019s standout recollections is from December 2007, when Ovechkin wanted practically two dozen stitches to shut a lower on his thigh after a recreation towards the Pittsburgh Penguins, then went on to attain four goals in Washington\u2019s next game<\/a> two nights later.
\u201cHe couldn\u2019t placed on any gear or something like this. I used to be simply [thinking], \u2018There\u2019s no approach he can play,\u2019 \u201d Boudreau mentioned. \u201cHowever he mentioned he\u2019d play. \u2026 I simply keep in mind shaking my head on the finish of the sport. Right here\u2019s a man that couldn\u2019t even skate within the morning, and now he\u2019s getting 4 targets and 5 factors or one thing foolish. I simply mentioned, \u2018This man\u2019s unimaginable.\u2019 \u201d
Boudreau has been again across the Capitals in current weeks as he contributes to Monumental Sports activities Community\u2019s broadcasts, giving him an up-close take a look at a rejuvenated Ovechkin.
It\u2019s no secret that Ovechkin had a disappointing begin to the season. However after coming back from the break in early February, he scored seven targets in eight video games and stretched his level streak that started earlier than the break to 10 video games \u2014 his longest since a 14-game level streak in 2018. He was held and not using a level Saturday however got here inches from scoring on one among his basic power-play one-timers and was later stopped on an opportunity to win the sport in time beyond regulation.
\u201cThe final couple video games I\u2019ve watched him,\u201d Boudreau mentioned, \u201cwhen he\u2019s skating and he\u2019s transferring, he\u2019s each little bit of nonetheless Alex Ovechkin.\u201d
Winger Tom Wilson has performed 735 video games within the NHL, all of them as Ovechkin\u2019s teammate over the previous 11 seasons. To place Ovechkin\u2019s milestone in context, he had performed practically as many video games as Wilson has now earlier than Wilson got here into the league \u2014 and has since performed that many once more.
\u201cWhat a choose few group of gamers that obtain that quantity. It\u2019s simply unimaginable,\u201d Wilson mentioned. \u201cAnd the best way that he performs the sport. You take a look at just about everybody above him, they usually didn\u2019t play the identical approach he did, operating guys over and enjoying that energy ahead sort of recreation. It\u2019s simply one other factor that he does that wows folks.\u201d
Ovechkin has by no means shied away from the bodily aspect of the sport, whilst he has grown older. It regarded for lengthy stretches of this season as if his age had lastly caught as much as him; nobody can outrun Father Time without end, least of all somebody whose exercises \u201caren\u2019t most likely the stuff of legend,\u201d as Kolzig put it.
However at an important time for Washington\u2019s faint playoff hopes, Ovechkin has turned in a classic stretch of performances, dragging the Capitals with him as he has executed for therefore a few years and reaching a big profession milestone alongside the best way.
\u201cI feel his starvation most likely is his driving pressure,\u201d Wilson mentioned. \u201cEach recreation that he performs, he\u2019s hungry to attain, he\u2019s hungry to win, he\u2019s hungry to be the best participant there ever was. It\u2019s a kind of issues the place you simply watch him day-to-day and typically you\u2019ve bought to pinch your self. It\u2019s fairly loopy the quantity of video games he\u2019s performed, what he\u2019s executed.
\u201cHe\u2019s carried this staff. [Playing] 96 % [of the games], all these stats and issues, you wouldn\u2019t even imagine when you advised folks. What he\u2019s executed, there\u2019s actually no phrases to explain that.\u201d<\/p>\n