King of the league (Photo credit: Jamie Squire)

It’s official: Alex Ovechkin has won the 2013 Rocket Richard Trophy. Back in February, Ovechkin was getting trashed as struggled through his third consecutive subpar year. Now he’s the NHL’s scoring leader for the third time in his eight year career.

After the remarkable spring, the Great Eight finished with 32 goals in 48 games in the lockout shortened season — the same number of tallies he registered two years ago despite playing 32 more games and only six less that last year’s total over 78 games. For the honors this season, he beat out Steven Stamkos by three goals.

“It’s big after a couple of years of not getting any indivual awards,” Ovechkin told CSN’s Al Koken after Washington’s final game of the season. “It’s huge.”

Let’s hope Ovi gets some more trophies this season — particularly ones you can drink out of.

Alex Ovechkin is held pointless against the Bruins. Bummer. (Photos by Nick Wass)

The last game of the season is a curious thing. The playoffs are a sure thing, and the only matters left to question are individual achievements and not getting injured. So then, was today a bust?

The Boston Bruins, filled out by AHL call-ups, bested the Washington Capitals in 65 minutes of hockey and three rounds of a shootout.  Whatever. We’re over it.  Upward and onward.

Your final regular season bullets.

• Through nearly 26 minutes of time, Alex Ovechkin had 0 assists and goals, ending his pursuit of Art Ross and jeopardizing his claim on Rocket Richard. Ovie did have 5 shots on goal, though, so his absence from the board should be viewed through the prism of Tim Thomas‘ masterful performance in net.
• Ovie was chasing those trophies awfully hard. At various points in the game we saw the GR8 combined with not-so-classic partners like Eric Belanger and David Steckel. Only Mike Green was on the ice longer.
• Speaking of @GreenLife52, no player gave us stronger pangs of anxiety than this one. Every race to the corners, every shoulder hit, every spleen-splitting blocked shot, every elbow to the face could have put Mike in the same situation he was in last spring. Let’s hope the bruises he accrued today fade quickly, and he’ll be ready to shut down [INSERT ROUND-1 OPPONENT HERE].
• Alex Semin‘s 40th goal on the season looked like a breeze. Semin was one of the most dialed-in players today, even if he did cough up the puck three times. Semin continues to regularly trade places with Mike Knuble on the top and second lines, and we think that’s great.
• No, really. Mike Knuble + Brooks Laich = Hell for goalies.
• Originally touted as a tough-guy enforcer, Jason Chimera hadn’t really shown us his teeth too often this season. When Chimmer charged (or was shoved into) Tim Thomas, he was greeted with a headlock and four quick blockerpads to the face. Jason was remarkably restrained in this spar, but after returning from his interference penalty, he immediately returned to Timmy’s grill. That plus his crosscheck in front of the net earned Jason fourteen minutes inside the Jason Chimera box. Someone go check to make sure he’s not still there.
• Semyon Varlamov had a series of late-game saves that may have made this game worth it. Seeing the kid scoot from post to post, making wild swats at errant pucks, reminded me of a goalie we met last spring who was capable of anything. Welcome back, bud!
• The shoot-out line up was a parade of WTFery. Boyd Gordon and Matt Bradley are two of my favorite players, but they were easily outclassed by Tim Thomas. I get it though, BB wanted to give these hard workers a nod. Still, I would have paid any price to see Jason Chimera score the GWG in a one-on-one. Alas, it was not to be.
• There’s an old playoffs word for “overtime loss.”  Loss.

Congratulations to Henrik Sedin for his presumptive win for the Art Ross Trophy. Steven Stamkos and Sidney Crosby may yet lay claim to the Rocket Richard. No matter. They are all excellent players, but it’s time for our focus to shift. There’s a 35 lbs. cup of infinite glory lying it wait for the Washington Capitals. Separating the two are at least 16 games of the best hockey we may ever see.

Shave your face, friends. This may be your last chance for a while.

Thanks, Jack Reickel, for the amazing picture!

It seems the Caps of old are back. The last few weeks, really ever since the Olympic break, the team has lacked its luster. But in this fourth and final game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Washington Capitals brought a ton of heart and their signature roll-call scoring with them.

Thanks to goals from Alex Semin, Mike Knuble, Tomas Fleischmann, Matt Bradley, and then two more from some other guy, the Caps emerged victorious. Maybe it’s the Penguins are flagging late in the season, or maybe the Caps really are the better team. Watching the despondent faces of Pens fans trickling out of Mellon Arena, it doesn’t matter much to me; I’m just happy.

Let’s never go back to Pittsburgh. ‘Tis a silly place.

• Alex Ovechkin scored two hilarious goals. One was a quick wrister four seconds into the Caps’ first and only power play of the night. The second was an empty netter with one second left in the game. That ties OV up with Sidney Crosby in the Rocket Richard race. This is hilarious for many reasons, but that these cheap goals will infuriate Sidney’s acolytes is the one that makes me smile widest.
• Mike Wise in tomorrow’s Post: “The problem for rockin’-the-red Washington at the moment is, Sidney Crosby is at least two leaps ahead at the moment.”  Already out of date.  Sigh.  Mike, respectfully, please leave hockey to the real amateurs.  (Us.)
• The Penguins received one penalty one the night, the Caps four. If you think that this is because the Capitals are less disciplined than their foes, you have not been paying attention.
• Perhaps the parade of penalties was a deliberation on the Caps behalf; it gave the team many chances to practice their leaky penalty kill unit. 3-for-4 doesn’t change the team stat, but the PK made its way up to shut-down mode by the end of the third.
• Sidney Crosby‘s “goal” was totally deflected in by Bill Guerin and his spray-on tan. Fess up, NHL tallymen. You know I’m right.
• Nicky Backstrom wields ninja-like puck skills, but his intentions are transparent: do something ninja-like and then pass it to Ovie.  The best break in the world loses its surprise if the goalie knows you’re going to pass it to GR8.   Those 31 goals could be many, many more.
• Marc-Andre Fleury‘s temper tantrum on his way to the locker room tickles me in a place that is not oft-tickled.  It’s a physical manifestation of the Capitals setting up residence INSIDE HIS MIND!  See you in two weeks, MAF.
• Hey, let’s look at that empty net goal again. Hahahaha.

• How did Shaone Morrisonn manage to get a -2 rating in a game where his team wins 6-3? Do you have to try to get scored on? Was this a dare?
• Not-Center Tomas Fleischmann showed some fury tonight, but man, he is not doing the job on the faceoff. 3/13 = 23% = BrendanMorrisonComeBackToUs!
• Semyon Varlamov had 26 saves, many of which he had no business saving. Is he back? Don’t jinx it! (But yeah, he is.)
• Okay, last time. I promise. Let’s check out that empty netter.

Two games to go. Stay frosty, boys. It’s a long road.