Sidney Crosby had arguably his worst statistical season and currently has 7 points in 3 games played. It's loser mentality to cling to regular season stats once the playoffs have started. We're grasping at straws as if we're trying to convince ourselves that regular season OV is comparable to the on ice product we've seen the last two games. Powerplay goals aside, I have seen Ovechkin matter in one period of six played at even strength, he is not absolved of this hot mess. Is it a coincidence that the only period that he seemed to be a force to be reckoned with was when we were down by one and staring a 2 game deficit in the face? I love the guy, but he absolutely suffers from selective interest. You can't convince me he's significantly hurt when I just watched him play his ass off in Game 82 to try and get goal 50 and play like that in period 3 of game 2.
Part of the existing problem is Ovechkin is only really called to task for his play once a series ends and even then we let the stat line convince us he's not a problem. We'll look back and go, "Well 2 points in 2 games, there were worse players on the ice." Truthfully I don't know what it is about the playoffs but he seems uncomfortable with the shift in style, and he has for a long while. I think we regularly assume he's hurt but I think he just genuinely is uncomfortable or unfamiliar with how his existing style fits into this different game. My arm chair analysis is that he simply refuses to adapt his game, he believes what got done in the regular season is the style that can get it done in the post season and when he meets adversity he chocks it up to bad bounces or luck. Whereas Kuznetsov has finally seemed to get it, he crashes the net, he's getting into physical play, he's extending play with his speed but not trying to walk the defense himself. Kuzy spent his first few years hitting that "wait, why does all the same things not work" wall, Ovechkin has weirdly reverted, he used to know what it took and now he's back to thinking "Nah, this will be fine."