Ovechkin Named First Star

After a hectic and heartbreaking weekend for the Caps, Coach Bruce Boudreau has given his players the day off. No practice, no meetings, no video, nothing.

With a busy stretch ahead, that means beat writers are off, too. The blog will be back tomorrow morning.

Update:Alex Ovechkin was named first star of the week, the NHL announced this morning. This is his fourth such honor this season. He was also named first star for the month of January.

From the NHL:

Ovechkin reached the 50-goal mark for the second time in his three NHL seasons Mar. 3, scoring a hat trick and adding two assists in Washington's 10-2 victory over the Boston Bruins. He reached the milestone in his team's 67th game of the season, the fastest since the Pittsburgh Penguins' Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux (59th game) and the Buffalo Sabres' Alexander Mogilny (63rd game) in 1995-96. Ovechkin later scored a pair of goals in a 3-1 victory over the Sabres Mar. 5, tallied one assist in a 2-1 loss to the Bruins Mar. 8 and finished the week with two assists in a 4-2 loss to the Penguins Mar. 9. Ovechkin leads the NHL scoring race with 95 points (54-41--95) in 70 games.

Here's the link.