Ovechkin earns new task

All game long Saturday night, Alex Ovechkin flew around the Verizon Center ice during the Washington Capitals’ home opener against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Emphasis on all game long.

Since arriving in the District, Ovechkin has driven the Capitals during five-on-five and man-advantage play, using his world-class skills to rejuvenate the entire franchise. He continued Saturday night with two goals in the Capitals’ 4-2 win over Chicago, a game the Caps trailed 2-0 less than nine minutes in.

But if the first two games provide any indication, Ovechkin will have to do even more this year.

Two short-handed preseason goals during an experimental run on the penalty kill have turned into a regular assignment.

Ovechkin played four minutes, 18 seconds on the penalty kill against Chicago, taking another step in helping establish himself as the game’s ultimate all-around player. The Capitals were 6-for-6 on the penalty kill a night after allowing three power-play goals by Atlanta.

“I feel comfortable,” Ovechkin said. “Coach [Bruce Boudreau] trusts me, and I want to help the team win and it’s nice when you can play five-on-five, five-on-four and now four-on-five.”

Whether Ovechkin getting a regular penalty kill assignment is a good thing remains to be seen.

If Ovechkin is up to the task physically, he’ll see his ice time exceed the 23 minutes, 6 seconds he averaged last season, third among all NHL forwards. He can be a potential boon to the Capitals penalty kill, which ranked 23rd in short-handed goals last year (five).

“Last year, per se, we were more satisfied or comfortable with just killing it off,” said David Steckel, who centered Ovechkin in man-down situations. “What Alex brings to the table is a little more respect on behalf of their defense because he can create more offense for us.”

If Ovechkin can’t help the Capitals’ penalty kill, which ranked 25th last year, there is no point having the him waste minutes playing in a situation where he can’t score goals.

“It’s just a fine balance of how much penalty kill time he gets because you don’t want him playing 28 minutes a night,” Boudreau said before the game.

The reasons for and against using Ovechkin on the penalty kill were on display during the Capitals’ first two games.

The reason against: Early in the Atlanta game, Ovechkin - a winger by trade - was on the ice with Steckel, who was thrown out of the circle. Ovechkin lost the draw to veteran pivot Todd White. Nine seconds later, it was 1-0 Atlanta.

Boudreau didn’t pin the blame on Ovechkin, but if he is a liability on draws, that’s trouble because teams will do everything possible to get Steckel bounced from the circle.

The reason for: To start the third period last night, the Capitals had to kill 89 seconds. Ovechkin and Brooks Laich created a two-on-one rush and then after he won a battle along the wall, Ovechkin emerged to feed a streaking Nick Schultz, whose wrist shot was stopped.

Just that quick sequence validated Boudreau’s theory on playing Ovechkin on penalty kill. Why not put the guy who can make anything happen at any point of the game on the ice as much as possible? He did in the final two minutes when his snap shot beat Nikolai Khabibulin to seal the Capitals’ win.

Ovechkin had the kind of game the Capitals needed at the right time.

“Especially with how we started the season, we played just terrible in third period [Friday] and didn’t win,” he said. “Today, we kept going and worked hard and our goalie made big saves, the penalty kill did a great job and everybody played hard and we deserved today to win.”