MEMO TO OVIE: WINS IN MAY > WINS IN JANUARY

Congratulations to Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals for winning a game at Mellon Arena in January. Ovie and the Caps played a fiery, focused 60 minutes and were worthy winners.

But it’s not the same as winning Game 7 in May.

Capitals fans should know – and if they don’t, somebody tell ‘em – that Thursday’s 6-3 victory hardly evens accounts. For the Caps to get revenge, they’ve got to eliminate the Penguins in the playoffs, then go on and win the Stanley Cup. Anything else is insignificant.

That said, the Capitals were the better team. If the teams played a best-of-7 series now, you’d bet on Washington.

I am absolutely fascinated by Ovechkin. I have never seen a hockey player quite like him. If a great white shark is a perfect killing machine, Ovechkin is a perfect shooting machine. If I were a world leader, I’d buy a puck-proof vest. Caps owner Ted Leonsis may start renting Ovie out for assassinations.

There are better pure finishers; the New York Rangers’ Marian Gaborik comes to mind. But nobody in the game’s history has gotten pucks on net with the frequency, velocity and accuracy of Ovechkin. Hall of Famer Phil Esposito holds the NHL record for shots in a season, 550 in 1970-71. Ovechkin’s best is 528, taken last year. But Esposito was flipping wrist shots with a creaky wooden stick. Ovechkin is hammering lasers with a composite bazooka.

You have to stop Ovechkin. He won’t stop himself.

And stopping Ovechkin isn’t easy.

I mooted the idea of having somebody shadow Ovechkin, particularly on the power play when the primary intent of the Caps’ man-advantage unit is to feed him one-timers. But, as Bob Errey pointed out, Mario Lemieux used to foil that strategy by himself shadowing a foe, thus dragging two guys around with him. If Ovie did that on the PP, the other Caps would play 4-on-2. Not good.