For a man with everything on the line - including his legacy - Alex Ovechkin looks to be having an enormous amount of fun during the biggest moment of his career. The Washington Capitals star is the central figure of this year's Stanley Cup Finals. He's been one of the best players in the NHL for a decade now, but this is the first time he's reached the pinnacle of the sport. All eyes are on him at every moment, both when he's on the ice and off the ice. We should be thankful for that, considering some of the fun highlights he has provided in the first three games.
Having a blast
In a lot of sports, it's the fringe roster member who becomes the team's biggest cheerleader off the field of play. Take basketball, for example, players who don't get in the game spend the contest whooping and hollering, standing up to cheer every positive moment. The stars are creating those moments, so they don't generally have much time to celebrate. In hockey, it's different. Because there are rapid shifts deployed, there's a strong chance the team's best player won't be on the ice when a goal is scored or another highlight occurs. When Ovechkin's off the ice, he's ready to celebrate his teammates' accomplishments against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Ovechkin’s bench reactions gonna win Conn Smythe pic.twitter.com/FEomM3FJ0b
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) June 3, 2018
How could that reaction not melt even the coldest heart?
That was a result of Evgeny Kuznetsov scoring the game's second goal, putting the Capitals up 2-0 during Saturday night's Game 3 in Washington. It wasn't Ovechkin's first contribution to the festivities, though; he opened up the game's scoring earlier in the night. Even then, he didn't give as much of a celebration as he did when he praised the heavens for Kuznetsov's eventual game-winning goal.
Ovechkin's legacy on the line
Throughout his career, Ovechkin has been compared to one person and one person only: Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby. The Eastern Conference rivals have each been prolific in their own right and each will find themselves in the Hall of Fame as soon as their respective careers end. The major difference between them, however, has been Crosby's three Stanley Cups to Ovechkin's none.
In moments like this, even the best have a tendency to tense up in pursuit of a legacy-defining moment. Ovechkin is taking the opposite tack. He's enjoying every moment of a Stanley Cup Finals that always felt in the distance for he and the Capitals, but never nearing closer until it suddenly arrived.
It makes Alex Ovechkin easy to root for.