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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Ovie claims he's cool with benching
ARLINGTON, Va. -- Flashing that gap-toothed grin of his, Alex Ovechkin said all the right things Friday about being benched by Capitals coach Dale Hunter for all but 15 seconds over the final 14 minutes of Washington's 2-1 victory against Boston in Game 4 of their first-round series.
A day after watching his teammates help playoff rookie goalie Braden Holtby protect a one-goal lead Thursday night, the two-time NHL MVP said: "It doesn't matter how many minutes I play. Of course I want to be there, but it's his decision."
Both Ovechkin and Hunter said the team's leading scorer and captain is healthy. But the coach said his game plan called for sitting Ovechkin when certain Bruins lines were out on the ice. What's more, the Russian who makes nearly $10 million a season isn't the player the Capitals want putting his body in harm's way at the defensive end.
"At the end of the game there, you've got your shot-blockers out there, and you want your best players blocking shots, but your offensive guys, but you don't want them breaking a foot, either," Hunter said.
Other Capitals players shrugged off the move, with some saying they didn't even notice Ovechkin was only on the ice for a total of 1 minute, 58 seconds in the third period of a playoff game.
"Just because he's not on the ice, doesn't mean he's not a big part of the team. He's paid to score goals. He's here to score goals, and make sure we're in games and giving ourselves a chance to win games," forward Troy Brouwer said. "If we were down a goal, he'd be the guy that would probably log the most amount of ice time. But being a game where you have a one-goal lead, they have a pretty good push, you want your defensive guys out, the guys who are usually on the penalty kill, the shutdown line -- and he understands that."
The Capitals had a 26-16 edge in blocked shots, and they didn't allow Boston to get an official shot on goal over the final 7 minutes Thursday.
"Well, of course, I understand it. I accept it. ... It doesn't matter if I'm going to play 10 seconds or 5 seconds. Most important thing is team result," Ovechkin said.
-- The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 21, 2012 C2
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