"Ovechkin is a shooter, and he's really, really good at it," Cooper said. "And the one thing, regardless how hot he is, this is what shooters do. (Steven) Stamkos is in very much in the same breath. They're going to shoot, so you have to limit where they shoot from. You try to make their angles as bad as possible. You try to limit their time and space. But those type players, they're going to get their shots. They're shot volume guys. The problem is when they're hot, which he is right now, and the puck has eyes for him, how much you can stop that?"
Another problem is the rest of the Capitals' lineup. Focus too much on Ovechkin and other standouts like T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov can hurt you. Kuznetsov is currently tied with Ovechkin for the league's scoring lead, all seven of Kuznetsov's points coming via assists, mostly setting up Ovechkin.
"You look at the lineup and they have other players like Oshie, Kuznetsov, Backstrom, all those guys are highly-talented, offensive-minded players," Bolts defenseman Anton Stralman said. "But, the way (Ovechkin's) been playing, the way he's shooting, he's obviously the biggest threat shooting the puck. So we'll try to limit him off the puck as much as we can."
Stamkos talked about how turnovers have plagued the Bolts over their first two games, especially on Saturday when Florida rallied down 3-2 to score three-consecutive goals, all in a span of less than three minutes, to take control. The Lightning surrendered 48 shots, tied for the fifth most they've allowed in franchise history. Florida had 24 shots alone in the first period.