{"id":10200,"date":"2016-04-10T08:02:39","date_gmt":"2016-04-10T15:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/mr-game-7-justin-williams-reaches-1000-game-milestone\/"},"modified":"2016-04-10T08:02:39","modified_gmt":"2016-04-10T15:02:39","slug":"mr-game-7-justin-williams-reaches-1000-game-milestone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/mr-game-7-justin-williams-reaches-1000-game-milestone\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Mr. Game 7’ Justin Williams reaches 1,000-game milestone"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON, Va.<\/strong> \u2014 Justin Williams tore ligaments in his left knee (twice), tore the Achilles tendon in his right leg and broke his right ankle \u2014 all before he turned 28. Even though he had won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006, it\u2019s no wonder the Los Angeles Kings wondered if Williams was damaged goods.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was battling those injuries so we never really knew how he was going to pan out,\u201d former Kings teammate Drew Doughty said. \u201cThen he starts getting healthy and playing more and more and we saw the reason why he\u2019s a Stanley Cup champion and why he\u2019s such an effective player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two more Cup rings and a Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP later, Williams is no longer the injury-prone risk he feared he\u2019d become. He hasn\u2019t missed a game in his first season with the Washington Capitals and on Sunday is set to play his 1,000th regular-season contest.<\/p>\n

That milestone is a testament to Williams\u2019 longevity, especially considering he has made a name for himself as \u201cMr. Game 7\u201d and a playoff performer. His time to shine comes next week, but not before the 34-year-old got a chance to reflect on the career he fashioned for himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou figure out what you can do and what you can\u2019t do on the ice with regards to hitting, with regards to evading checks, with regards to making plays,\u201d said Williams, whose major injuries occurred in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2009. \u201cThroughout my career I\u2019ve learned about the body, learned about what you need to do on the ice and I\u2019ve been able to stay healthy because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since returning from a dislocated shoulder in 2011, Williams has only missed one game \u2014 Nov. 6, 2014, with an upper-body injury. Most hockey players go through more injury woes after 30, but not Williams, who credits smarts and good athletic training.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go as hard as you can on the ice when you\u2019re on there,\u201d Williams said. \u201cPacing yourself is listening to your body and knowing when you need rest, knowing when to take an optional, knowing that you need a good stretch here and there \u2014 just little things like that that elongate your career. People say, \u2018Stretch your legs, stretch your career.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams hasn\u2019t just been healthy, he\u2019s been more effective in playoffs than the regular season. He has averaged 0.68 points a game in the playoffs, including seven goals and seven assists in seven Game 7s \u2014 and his team is 7-0.<\/p>\n

Mike Richards, who won the Cup alongside Williams with the Kings in 2012 and 2014, said the veteran winger\u2019s contributions aren\u2019t limited to one situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just Game 7, it\u2019s any big game any time that we need them \u2014 even throughout the season any time we need a big game,\u201d Richards said. \u201cHe might like the spotlight. He likes being that guy. It\u2019s good for him and it\u2019s well-deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams also has had a solid regular season. His 22 goals are the most he\u2019s put up since 2006-07 and his 52 points are the most since 2011-12.<\/p>\n

Williams has been a fixture on the Capitals\u2019 second line and provided a valuable net-front presence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people around him know he\u2019s a tremendous work-ethic guy out there, he tries to win every battle, in front of the net he\u2019s outstanding and you can see how many goals he\u2019s scored in front of the net,\u201d captain Alex Ovechkin said. \u201cI think he\u2019s a perfect fit for our team, perfect guy in the locker room. He\u2019s the kind of guy who knows exactly what he has to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams has game No. 999 left Saturday at the St. Louis Blues before 1,000 can happen Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks. So the Cobourg, Ontario, native has been around the game long enough that he\u2019s not taking reaching Sunday healthy for granted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve kind of tried to do throughout my career is set goals for myself and when I meet that goal try and get another one,\u201d Williams said. \u201cA thousand games is certainly on that list and something that hopefully I can get to here … and think about playoffs after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/swhyno .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON, Va. \u2014 Justin Williams tore ligaments in his left knee (twice), tore the Achilles tendon in his right leg and broke his right ankle \u2014 all before he turned 28. Even though he had won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006, it\u2019s no wonder the Los Angeles Kings wondered if Williams […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-10200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10200\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10200"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=10200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}