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Per the NHL, Alex Ovechkin has been named the League’s first star of the week. This latest honor should come as no surprise to anyone paying even the slightest bit of attention to the Caps at the moment - after all, all he did in the last seven days was score half of the team’s 14 goals (and pick up a shootout winner), which included back-to-back hat tricks for the second time in his career.
Need a reminder of his greatness? Here’s his first hat trick (likely the weirdest of his career) against the Red Wings:
Here’s the second in the comeback victory over Carolina:
And here he is picking up the game-tying tally against Buffalo and setting a new career-high 14-game point streak:
Here’s more from the NHL:
Ovechkin paced the NHL with seven goals in three games (7-0—7), highlighted by back-to-back hat tricks, to propel the Metropolitan Division-leading Capitals (20-9-3, 43 points) to a perfect week and their fifth straight win overall. Ovechkin scored three times in each of his first two outings, a 6-2 victory (including the game-winning goal) against the Detroit Red Wings Dec. 11 and a 6-5 shootout triumph over the Carolina Hurricanes Dec. 14. Those served as the 21st and 22nd hat tricks of Ovechkin’s career, moving him into a share of 11th place in NHL history (w/ Teemu Selanne). It also marked the second time Ovechkin has registered hat tricks in consecutive team games, a feat he achieved in the first two contests of the 2017-18 season. Ovechkin closed the week with one goal in regulation as well as the shootout winner in a 4-3 victory against the Buffalo Sabres Dec. 15. That extended his point streak to a career-high 14 games (17-6—23) and his goal streak to six contests (10-1—11), one off Ovechkin’s personal best set during his rookie season (Feb. 10 – March 8, 2006: 8-5—13 in 7 GP). The 33-year-old Moscow, Russia, native and seven-time Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy winner tops the NHL with 29 goals in 32 total outings this season (29-14—43), five more than the next-closest player.
Congratulations, Ovi!