Ovechkin sees room for improvement

WASHINGTON -- Alex Ovechkin wasn't tossing in the towel by any means -- not after Game 1 -- but he knows he must be better in Game 2 on Saturday night or the Washington Capitals face the dim prospect of going up to Montreal without a win in the series.

The Canadiens held Ovechkin, the League's leader in shots on goal, without one in Thursday's 3-2 overtime victory. It was the first time since Jan. 19 that Ovechkin, who had 50 goals on 368 shots on goal this season, didn't get at least one on the goalie.

Washington had 47 shots on goal. The only other Capitals who didn't get a shot were defenseman Shaone Morrisonn and forward David Steckel, who combined for 6 goals on 123 shots on goal in the regular season, or 44 fewer goals and 245 fewer shots than Ovechkin.

Ovechkin did have five shots blocked and he missed the net on another three, but an 0-for-8 night is not going to cut it for the Caps, especially when No. 8 plays 23 shifts totaling more than 26 minutes of ice time.

Ovechkin talked to the media after the game and here's what he had to say:

Q: Was there anything in particular that was going wrong for you tonight?

Ovechkin: I think our line didn't play in their zone at all. We had a couple of chances and we score one, but still we didn't play our game like we want to.

Q: Overtime is a coin flip. Did you have a sense of where it was going in overtime?

Ovechkin: Well, it's the playoffs and you try to do your best every shift. I think we played great in the first period. We had great chances and didn't score and they scored the first power-play goal. It didn't feel good. We stopped after they scored. Yeah, we scored a goal, but we had to push and we didn't push. But it's OK, it's just one game and we have 24 hours to realize and think about what we did wrong before we play the second game.

Q: Was the reason you couldn't play in the zone a lot more about what you did wrong or what they did right?

Ovechkin: I think it's all about us. If we had a chance to play in the zone and they got the puck they just put the puck in the neutral zone and we had to go back. I don't know. Maybe we just have to play simple. Maybe we have to play more close to each other. I don't know. We're going to think about it, watch the game and make some changes.

Q: How frustrating is it when a team is able to stop you from doing what you do best?

Ovechkin: You know, it's just one game. We have 24 hours to realize it. Right now we're mad and right now we're disappointed, but tomorrow is going to be a new day and it'll be a new game.

Q: Do you think you and (Nicklas) Backstrom got a lot more attention tonight?

Ovechkin: I think they just didn't give us room. They put two guys in front of me and two guys in front of Backy. We just have to talk to each other and talk about what we have to do better.

Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl