Alex Ovechkin's four-point night burns Ducks

Published Feb. 16, 2015 12:09 a.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

foxsports

That Alex Ovechkin guy is pretty good, but the Anaheim Ducks' captain has a few items of contention about the star winger's conduct on the ice.

Following a 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals, Ryan Getzlaf didn't hold back, suggesting that Ovechkin, who had a four-point night, received some very Michael Jordan-like treatment from the officials. 

"I didn't know he was going to dive the way he did tonight all over the (F-ing) ice," Getzlaf said, before apologizing for the profanity. "He's a great player - he's going to make plays and score goals - but that other stuff is embarrassing."

It's not completely surprising, seeing as how Ovechkin is a Michael Jordan-like player, but Getzlaf himself took two trips to the box for calls in favor of Ovechkin. If you ask Getzlaf, a player of an MJ caliber doesn't need to pull antics to be successful.  

"There was the slash on me, the slash on his hand, the one where I ran into him and he dove down - all of those things," Getzlaf said. "It's embarrassing to the game."

Ovechkin burned the Ducks badly. It started with a one-timer from the circle that was as loud as the Disneyland fireworks down the street. 

It was his sweet spot, and exactly the type of play that the Ducks wanted to prevent him from making. But the winger made just about every play that he wanted to make all night, scoring twice to take the league lead in goals with 36 and assisting on both of Andre Burakovsky's goals. 

"He's a great player and he's going to be a challenge," said Ducks' coach Bruce Boudreau, who previously coached Ovechkin in Washington. "When he's on, he's hard to stop and you give him two goals early and he's going to feel it the rest of the game."

It was his second of the season and the 19th time in his career that he's collected four or more in a game. He was the clear anchor for a top line that combined for eight points.

"I try to use my backhand. Again, it was just the situation," Ovechkin said. "(Burakovsky) was open a couple of times and he's a skilled guy, and I'm pretty sure if you have a one-on-one, he will score. Those are huge goals by him and us as well."

Matt Beleskey and Sami Vatanen were both injured in the first period and did not return, but injuries are nothing but an excuse. The bigger issue is that the Ovechkin-led Capitals completely disrupted the Ducks' game.

The Ducks wanted to skate, and did so beautifully in the first period, but that's not what Boudreau felt that they should be doing. Boudreau wanted the Ducks to win the forecheck battles, hit hard and use their physicality, much the way that the Los Angeles Kings did in Saturday night's win over the Caps. 

"We should have, for sure, taken a sample out of what L.A. did last night," Boudreau said. "All L.A. did was finish checks, finish checks and wear them down. That was what we were supposed to do but obviously, the game plan didn't work."

Two weeks ago, the two best teams in hockey played a game in Nashville. The Ducks won that won and they won big. Then, the following night it was the Caps that sent them spiraling a slump throughout the rest of the East Coast road trip. 

While Anaheim isn't in too much danger of losing its lead in the Pacific Division, it has long-since lost its league lead and Western Conference lead. The Ducks haven't really been playing the way they did earlier in the season when they looked unbeatable. The Ducks are not, in fact, as invincible as they once looked.

"We're just at that point in the year where mentally, we have to be a little bit stronger to get that mojo back that we had at the start of the season," Getzlaf said. "We never really strayed from our path at the beginning of the year. We never really cared what the score was, we just played. I think at times we're just squeezing the sticks a little bit trying to make things happen that aren't always there, and it ends up in the back of our net."

share