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Bruce Boudreau hesitates a moment before weighing in on the Hart Trophy race, comparing the situation to a proud parent boasting about his children. As far as he is concerned, his team will sweep the NHL's year-end awards.

But when it comes to talking about the significance of Alex Ovechkin's league-leading 65 goals this season, the Washington Capitals rookie head coach has no such qualms. In an era of low-scoring hockey, Boudreau said, it ranks up there with the career greats — and it just might be enough to lift his team into the postseason for the first time in five years.

"If you look back in the '80s and late '70s, if you were a goaltender and you had a 3.20 or 3.30 goals-against average, you were usually tops in the league," Boudreau said. "And you look at Grant Fuhr's numbers; if you post them up today against the best goalies in the NHL, they pale in comparison. There were so many more goals scored.

"There are so many 1-0, 2-0 games nowadays. For a guy to have that many goals, it's hard to compare, but I've got to believe, when all's said and done, it's probably not as good as [Wayne Gretzky's record 92 goals], but if you take Phil Esposito's 76 and what Alex has done, I would think it's comparable."

And the numbers help back that up.

With 20 regular-season games left to play, NHL games this season have averaged 5.45 goals scored a game, which means 2007-08 is set to become the sixth-lowest-scoring season in the past 50 years.

Washington only needs a point against Florida at home in Saturday's regular-season finale to reach the postseason for the first time since 2003 — and for the first time in Ovechkin's young career.

When Ovechkin hit the magic 60-goal mark on March 21, he became only the 38th player to do so in league history. Until this season, however, every 60-goal campaign had come in a season that averaged at least 6.13 goals a game.

Gretzky's 92-goal campaign in 1981-82, for instance, came in a year when goal scoring reached an all-time high, 8.03 goals a game. Comparing the two vastly different eras is difficult, but Gretzky's season, percentage-wise, converts to 64 goals in 82 games by today's standards.

Even without making allowances for radical shifts in scoring, Ovechkin has had a campaign for the ages. He eclipsed Luc Robitaille's 15-year-old record for goals by a left winger and now sits tied for 23rd with Steve Yzerman's 1988-89 season among the top single-season performance.

Only 10 players have ever scored more than 65 goals in a season.

"Sometimes when you're right on top of the situation, you don't realize how many goals Alex really has," Boudreau said. "You know what I mean? You see it every day so it's not a big surprise. But when you sit back and think, in today's era, where every game he plays, every shift he takes, the other team's top defensive pairing and top defensive line is against him, and in every game, the other teams are talking about focusing on checking Alex Ovechkin. And then he'll go out and look what he's done — quite amazing."

"I didn't think we'd see anything like that again," Hockey Night in Canada analyst Kelly Hrudey said of Ovechkin breaking the 65-goal barrier. "And that's not in any sense slamming the talent, because the talent's better than it's ever been. It's just that the talent in the net is better as well."

Ovechkin's star turn has also become a big draw at the box office for a market that hasn't seen a playoff series win in a decade.

Twenty home games into this season, the Capitals sat near the league basement in attendance, averaging just 13,643 fans per game. But when Ovechkin signed a record 13-year, $124-million (U.S.) contract in mid-January, it sparked an unprecedented ticket buy, and Washington's per-game average leapt to 17,215 over the final 21 games, including four consecutive sellouts to end the year.

Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said the number of tickets given away is also well down, and much lower than other NHL teams that have struggled at the gate this season.

More importantly, Washington's on the verge of making a postseason appearance, with one vital game remaining today against the Florida Panthers. "The fans are just as hungry as the players to have some success," Boudreau said.

The Capitals have been one of the league's top teams under Boudreau, who took over on Nov. 22 after Glen Hanlon was fired with the team in last place. Washington is 36-17-7 in the 60 games since, a 108-point pace that over a full season would have put them first in the Eastern Conference.

And Ovechkin has scored 51 of his goals, a 70-goal pace, under Boudreau.

An impressive scorer in his own right over an extensive minor-league career, Boudreau said he came into the situation hoping only to be able to connect with his young Russian superstar. "I was just hoping he would listen to what I said," the coach explained. "I was coming in and not knowing what to expect."

What the veteran bench boss found was a player willing to do anything to win.

"He's such a smart individual — sometimes you don't see it because he's always smiling and having fun — but he really knows what's going on," Boudreau said.

As for the most valuable player debate, one that in some circles hinges on the Capitals making the playoffs, there's no controversy in Washington. "I certainly recognize the value of having a player lead his team to the playoffs," one team staffer said last week. "I'm just not sure what else Alex himself could have done — it shouldn't be held against him that we didn't let him coach the team for the first six weeks."

"I think there's no question this year," Boudreau said. "If you look where we are and you look what he's done and you look where our next leading scorer is …

"Alex is the straw that stirs the drink on this team."