72 – Number of games, including the postseason, in which Alex Ovechkin has appeared against the New York Rangers, his most frequent foe over the course of his career – a grand total of 1,529 minutes in ice time, for those keeping track. 39 of those games were in the regular season, with the rest of the games a result of the all-too-frequent playoff matchup against the Blueshirts. The next-highest on the list is Carolina, a team he’s faced 62 times (all regular season).
In those 72 games, Ovechkin has racked up 60 points (35 goals, 25 assists) – which amazingly “only” shakes out to a points-per-game rate of .83, his fifth-lowest average out of the 30 teams (although none of the bottom-four teams – Dallas, Columbus, Vancouver and Colorado – have gone up against Ovechkin more than 18 games total over the last decade).