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NHL

'Sleepy' Ovechkin Wakes Up to Bury Wings, Sens

Posted Feb 01, 2009 7:00PM By Ted Starkey (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Capitals, NHL All Star Game, NHL Awards, Russian Hockey

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A word of warning to the Devils, Kings and Panthers, the teams next up on the Caps' schedule: Alex Ovechkin is heating up again.

The Caps star had been relatively quiet before the weekend (well, at least in non-exhibition games), scoring just four goals in the Caps' last nine games, losing the lead in the Richard Trophy race to Philadelphia's Jeff Carter.

Well, his slump is now officially over, as he had a weekend to remember, scoring five goals in just three periods against Detroit and Ottawa to surge to a four-goal edge over Carter in the NHL's scoring race - even after he admitted he was "sleepy" with the rare back-to-back afternoon home games.

Ovechkin told reporters he was "usually sleeping" at 12:30 in the afternoon, when both games got underway this weekend at Verizon Center, which started early due to some football game being televised on Sunday, but that he felt better the second day around.

"I go to bed a little bit early, like 8, and wake up again 6:30 and go back again to sleep, so I kind of feel pretty good today," he told reporters afterwards.

It certainly showed Sunday, as Ovechkin earned the first star as the Caps completed a four-point weekend with a 7-4 thrashing of the Senators. It wasn't quite as dramatic as Saturday's two-goal show he put on in the third period to beat the Wings, but Ovechkin's second career hat trick against the Senators fueled a successful weekend for Washington. The Caps now hold a 13-point lead in the Southeast Division over Carolina, and passed the Atlantic Division-leading Devils - who they play Tuesday night - for second seed in the Eastern Conference.

Ovechkin notched his 34th in the first period with a quick power play strike off a feed from Mike Green just four seconds into a power play. His 35th goal of the year chased starting netminder Brian Elliott just 2:15 into the second period, but then he burned his replacement for the hat trick and his league-leading 36th tally with a shot that blew by a defender and through the five-hole of replacement Alex Auld.

Throughout his career, Ovechkin has been a streaky scorer, as when he's on the top of his game, there's no player better and putting the puck in the net right now. And after a relatively quiet stretch, it appears he's starting to regain his scoring touch again, and is now on pace to be within striking distance of his second straight 60-goal campaign.

And, that's not good news for the Devils, who the got burned by a pair of goals (including one in the final second) from the star the last time the Caps paid a visit to Newark.

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