Ovechkin’s Promise Rings Hollow – May 2015

The Washington Capitals led their playoff series 3 games to 1 to the New York Rangers. They dropped the next two games, setting up a huge game 7. Prior to game 7, Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin guaranteed a victory for his team. We have seen athletes do this before, particularly star players.

Mark Messier has done it before in the sport of hockey. Joe Namath, Plaxico Burress, and Rasheed Wallace have also done it, just to name a few. Sometimes leaders of the team use this as a confidence builder for the rest of their teammates. They believe if the team sees that they feel confident enough to put it all out there they must really believe it. In Ovechkin’s case he was attempting to give his team confidence after dropping two potential series clinching games. With each loss the pressure was rising on the Capitals. The Rangers had stolen all of the moment going into game 7 and all of the pressure was heaped onto the Capitals. Ovechkin is clearly the best player on Washington so it is on him to lead the way.

In the end the Capitals ended up having one of the biggest collapses in NHL history. Few teams have lost after reaching a 3-1 lead in the series. Although, even with a 3-1 lead, this series was as tightly contested as possible. Each and every game was decided by a single goal. Game 7 was no different was the Rangers came out victorious in overtime with a score of 2-1. In the end Ovechkin’s guarantee rang hollow, in not part of his own doing. Alexander Ovechkin was the only Capital’s player to record a goal in game 7. He has been the leader of the team all and is one of the two best players in the NHL. He laid it all out there on the ice in game 7 and came up just a bit short. It just goes to show, you can say whatever you want, but in the end you have to get it done on the ice. Ovechkin’s promise ultimately rang hollow.