Has anyone seen Alex Ovechkin?
The Washington superstar goal-scorer has been missing in action in the first two games of the playoff series against the Rangers, who took a 2-0 lead after Tuesday’s 4-3 win at the Garden.
The 38-year-old Ovechkin, who led the Caps with 31 goals this season and is chasing down Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record, didn’t have a single shot on goal in Game 1 and was held to only one Tuesday night.
The Rangers are doing such a good job defending Ovechkin with their line combinations and physicality that they’ve rendered him so invisible you’d think he was in witness protection.
After the game, Washington coach Spencer Carbery called out his superstar with some eye-opening transparent words.
“I thought in the first two games he looks a little bit off, he’s struggling,’’ Carbery said. “It’s hard. It’s the playoffs, on the road. He’s getting a tough matchup.
“But it’s two games. We’re going back home and we’ll get an opportunity to be able to control the matchups for him, and he can flip it. That’s one thing about him. He can flip it in one game and all of a sudden be a difference-maker and help us win a game and be a driving force on winning us a game on home ice.’’
Asked what he sees in Ovechkin’s struggles, Carbery said, “There’s two things that I notice when he’s struggling — he’s not getting [chances]. He should on a nightly basis get four or five looks, whether they go in or not.
“He’s not getting those looks. Whether that’s a product of his matchups or a product of the line combinations, we’ve got to find a way to get him in spots where it’s him and [Rangers goalie Igor] Shesterkin.
“The second thing I see is shots getting blocked. That’s where I see he’s off just a bit. Even in the six-on-five [at the end of the game], we win the draw and his shot goes into shin pads.’’
Ovechkin’s struggles have taken place on defense, too, as his giveaway led to Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller scoring a shorthanded goal that proved to be the game-winner.
“We give up the shorty when Ovi turns [the puck] over, which was a really, really difficult goal to give up,’’ Carbery said. “On the play, he gets a puck cross-ice and he’s getting pressured right away and he bobbles it.’’
“We’ve been doing a good job pressing them,’’ Mika Zibanejad said of the Washington power play, which is led by Ovechkin. “That’s a good power play. You don’t want to give them time or space. When we pressure, there are opportunities to go forward, and we had some good looks. At least we got one [from Miller], so that was a big one for us.’’
Carbery vowed that his star would be better at home.
“He’s been through so many situations like this, I expect him to step up big time in Game 3,’’ Carbery said.
