Alexander Ovechkin has announced that he will not be partaking in any of the All-Star Weekend events this season.The Capitals star stated his reason is because he wants to take that week off to rest and rejuvenate himself. He also stated that this additional rest will allow him to perform better in the second half of the season.The 33-year-old has appeared in all of the Washington Capitals 38 games this season. He also is coming off of a season where he played in all 82 games and captured his first Stanley Cup championship.advertisingCapitals coach Todd Reirden said team will decide closer to all-star break which game Alex Ovechkin will sit out. He has to miss one game for dropping out of NHL All-Star Game.— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) January 2 Anton Khudobin Jersey Womens , 2019Due to the NHL trying to have their best players at these All-Star events, for the past few seasons they have enforced this suspension rule when a player decides to skip the weekend.聽This is why Ovechkin has been suspended by the league for one game.The eleven-time All-Star will likely either sit out the Capitals last game before the break on Jan. 23,聽2019, or their first game back on Feb. 1, 2019. Which will mean by skipping the All-Star events, he will receive a nine or ten-day break from any NHL activities.Ovechkin was named as the聽Metropolitan Division captain Wade Megan Jersey Womens , for his performance so far this season. He currently leads the league in goals with 29 and ranks 18th in the league for points.advertising SportsnetThis announcement means that this could be the start of a regular occurrence for Ovechkin if he continues to make deep runs into the playoffs each season. He is above the age of 30, which means his body doesn't recover as fast as a lot of the younger All-Stars in this league.So with a week off during the middle of the season, this could not only allow him to perform effectively for the second-half of this season. But, it could also allow him to prolong his career.Ovechkin could definitely benefit from a week-off instead of participating in the All-Star Weekend. Which could not just benefit him for this season, but every season for the rest of his career.advertisingOvechkin is the key to success for the Capitals. So if taking a week off during the middle of the season is going to help him perform consistently throughout the entire season, then missing the All-Star Weekend events shouldn't be a big deal.If this experiment is successful for him Tobias Rieder Jersey Womens , then he should definitely consider skipping the All-Star events every season in order for him to be effective all season-long and help his team make the playoffs consistently each season. DENVER (AP) — For a brief moment, the Minnesota Wild lost track of the super speedy Nathan MacKinnon.That’s all it took. MacKinnon had a tap-in goal off a nifty pass from Mikko Rantanen to give Colorado the lead, Semyon Varlamov stopped 20 shots and the Avalanche beat the Wild 4-1 on Thursday night in the opener for both teams.“His vision is awesome,” MacKinnon said of his linemate. “I just drove the net and Mikko made a great play.”Minnesota goaltender Devan Dubnyk didn’t have much of a chance on MacKinnon’s second-period goal that gave Colorado a 2-1 advantage. Rantanen skated down the left side and sent a pass through a sea of sticks to MacKinnon, who tapped it in before Dubnyk had a chance to fully turn his head.“He was in a good place and he made a good play,” Dubnky said.Wild coach Bruce Boudreau offered another explanation.“It’s MacKinnon. He’s going to get a lot of goals like that Mike Hoffman Jersey Womens ,” Boudreau said.MacKinnon picked up right where he left off from last season, when he tallied 39 goals and 58 assists on his way to finishing second in the Hart Trophy vote. He led the team in shots Thursday with eight. Carl Soderberg scored, while Rantanen and J.T. Compher added empty-net goals for the Avalanche, who moved to 15-5-3 in home openers since moving to town from Quebec.Varlamov returned to net after missing the playoffs last season with a knee injury he suffered late in the regular season. He made his eighth opening-night start in a burgundy-and-blue sweater, surpassing Patrick Roy for the most by an Avalanche goaltender. This also was Varlamov’s 400th career NHL game.“He’s grown so much as a goalie,” MacKinnon said. “His mindset is he can play a low-shot game and stay sharp Peter Budaj Jersey Womens , and he was great.”Colorado thought it had a two-goal lead when Colin Wilson scored 1:36 into the third after knocking in a puck out of the air. The goal was reviewed and disallowed after it was determined Wilson’s left glove batted the puck in.No matter, Varlamov protected things with save after save. None bigger than stopping an Eric Staal wrist shot with his right shoulder on a 2-on-1 with just under 5 minutes remaining.Rantanen added an empty-net goal with 1:53 remaining and Compher another in the waning seconds to seal the victory.Colorado outshot the Wild 40-21. Zach Parise gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead on a backhand pass from Mikko Koivu early in the first period. Parise missed the opening 39 games a season ago due to a back ailment that required surgery. After steadily working his way back into form, Parise suffered a broken sternum in the playoffs.Minnesota is coming off a season in which it posted 101 points before losing to Winnipeg in the first round of the playoffs.“There was some sloppiness that’s not going to be seen in game 20,” Boudreau said. “Pucks bouncing over the sticks and over-skating the puck and things of that nature. … I think they did know how quick the pace was going to be, faster than the preseason, but took us a while to get up to it.”As for the Avalanche Andrew Hammond Jersey Womens , general manager Joe Sakic has modest goals this season after his team returned to the postseason for the first time since 2013-14. Their average age this season is 26.3. They ended last season at 25.8.“Our goal is to make the playoffs, but the most important thing for us is to see the growth of this group,” Sakic said. “We’re excited to see who makes that next jump.”NOTES: Wild F Marcus Foligno was tripped by D Tyson Barrie late in the second period. Foligno went to the bench favoring his left leg but returned a few minutes later. … F Vladislav Kamenev (lower body) and D Anton Lindholm (upper body) were taken off injured reserve and reassigned to the Colorado Eagles of the AHL. … Avs F Sheldon Dries made his NHL debut. He had two shots. … Soderberg also had an assist.UP NEXT:Minnesota: Starts a three-game homestand Saturday against Las Vegas.Colorado: Hosts Philadelphia on Saturday.