Is it time for the Washington Capitals and Alex Ovechkin to worry?

The Washington Capitals might not be a team built to win the Stanley Cup, but they are supposed to be a team built to score goals, yet they are struggling to find the back of the net after a month of hockey.

Is it time for the Washington Capitals and Alex Ovechkin to worry?

Alex Ovechkin passing the great Wayne Gretzky’s goal record has seemed like a matter of when not if the past few seasons. Just two seasons ago at the age of 36 Ovechkin registered 50 goals in 77 games. After registering just two goals in his first ten games, Ovechkin’s goal chase could be in jeopardy.

Going into this season, Ovechkin has scored 822 goals on 6,355 shots on goal, which comes out to a 12.9 shooting percentage. Through ten games this year, his shooting percentage is down to 4.7% having two goals on 43 shots.

The great eight has been a legend throughout his career, but age eventually does catch up to everyone, so is it time for the Washington Capitals to worry?

The Capitals definitely should be worried about Ovechkin. He has not found the back of the net at five on five yet this season and he was held without a shot on goal in back to back games, for the first time in his entire career.

Ovechkin is just 71 goals away from breaking Gretzky’s record and going into the season one would argue that could take just two seasons, now it is looking like it could take four or five for Ovi to get there.

Now, it is worth pointing out Ovechkin is not the only Capital struggling. Their 1.9 goals for per game on average is second worst in the league in front of the San Jose Sharks. That is not good company to keep. Additionally the power play is drastically under performing as well with just three power play goals on 31 attempts.

If the Capitals were clicking and Ovechkin was struggling that would be a major problem, but considering Washington in general has struggled out the gate, maybe there still is hope for things to turn around.

Nicklas Backstrom’s decision to step away for health reasons also complicates things in Washington, but assuming they can improve over the course of November, there is no reason to doubt that Ovechkin can still get back into his scoring ways.