ARLINGTON, Va. -- Alex Ovechkin will have a different perspective when the Washington Capitals host the Vegas Golden Knights at Capital One Arena on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; Scripps, MNMT).
After failing to get a shot on goal and having one shot attempt in the Capitals’ 5-3 season-opening loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, Ovechkin shifted from his long-time spot at left wing on the first line with center Dylan Strome to right wing at their practice Monday. Aliaksei Protas moved up from the third line to fill Ovechkin’s left wing spot.
“I don’t know,” Ovechkin said when asked about the move. “We just mix it up.”
Ovechkin has played left wing for most of his 20 seasons in the NHL and has had great success there. The 39-year-old is second in NHL history with 853 goals and needs to score 42 more to break Wayne Gretzky’s League record of 894.
But Ovechkin played right wing during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, when then-Capitals coach Adam Oates moved him there to take advantage of him playing on his natural side as a right-handed shot. Ovechkin led the NHL in goals each season, scoring 32 in 48 games during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign, when he won the Hart Trophy as the League’s most valuable player, and scoring 51 in 78 games in 2013-14.
That was the fifth time Ovechkin scored at least 50 goals in a season and the first of his three consecutive seasons of at least 50 goals. He is tied with Gretzky and Mike Bossy for the most seasons with at least 50 goals in League history with nine.
“Well, I have experience to play there, but it was a long time (ago),” Ovechkin said. “But (if) you start on the left or right, it doesn’t matter because in the game you’re coming from offensive zone to D zone, and you stay on the right side. So, you play basically most of the time there.”
Coach Spencer Carbery said at the start of training camp that he might try Ovechkin at right wing at some point this season while searching for the right line combinations after the Capitals added forwards Pierre-Luc Dubois, Andrew Mangiapane, Brandon Duhaime and Taylor Raddysh in the offseason. But Carbery downplayed the move after practice Monday.
“I think it's a small change,” Carbery said. “I find him on both sides of the ice a lot, and so left, right, it's not a huge deal to me.”
Ovechkin also downplayed changing sides, but it could potentially help him by getting him into different areas of the ice where defenders aren’t used to seeing him. Ovechkin, who had an assist Saturday, went without a goal in the first four games last season, scoring eight his first 43 games before scoring 23 in his final 36 contests to lead the Capitals with 31.
So, perhaps, playing in a different position will help him get off to a better start.
“To be honest with you, I don’t know if I’m going to play right or left or center,” Ovechkin said. “Maybe I’m going to play goalie tomorrow. We never know. But I think we still have options to find out combinations. It’s the beginning of the year, new faces on the team, so we have to find the right combinations, right chemistry, so that’s what we’re trying to do right now.”
Protas, who has played all three forward positions during his four seasons with Washington, said he’ll try to complement Ovechkin and Strome at each end of the ice.
“I think I should just help them the best way I can help,” he said. “Just play hard, win battles and just try to help them everywhere. Just try to do my best, the best way I can.”
Carbery said changing the combinations on the first and third line lines was more about wanting Protas, a left-handed shot, to play on the left side after he had been playing right wing on the third line.
“We've got an influx of left-shot wingers, so we're trying to tinker around with preventing one of those guys from having to play their off side,” Carbery said.
The changes were also aimed at trying to upgrade Washington’s third line. The combination of Sonny Milano, Hendrix Lapierre and Protas was on the ice for New Jersey’s first three goals on Saturday. Carbery believes Mangiapane, who had played with Ovechkin and Strome from the start of training camp, can bring a steadying veteran “reliability” at right wing on the line.
In addition, Jakub Vrana, who was a healthy scratch Saturday, will take Milano’s place at left wing on the line.
“It helps ‘Lappy’ out,” Carbery said of putting Mangiapane with Lapierre. “We had concerns on that line in the offseason and coming into camp it was always on my radar and unfortunately it played out the way that we had feared of having a tough night opening night. You wish that doesn't happen, or you hope that doesn't happen for those guys.
“It's a little bit of bad luck goes into that. They're wrong place wrong time, couldn't get a break. … But at the same time, we've got to find a way to -- Lappy has to help himself -- but we also need to insulate him and as a staff we've got to find some guys that can help him be productive and play a solid game.”
