He is Alex The Great -- again.

Washington Capitals star forward Alex Ovechkin pulled off the kind of repeat the Detroit Red Wings dreamed about by snagging the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP for the second consecutive year Thursday night in Las Vegas.

Ovechkin led the league with 56 goals and was second with 110 points. Voters for the Hart Trophy overwhelmingly picked Ovechkin over Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin and Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk, awarding him 115 of 131 first-place votes to make him the first back-to-back Hart winner since Buffalo goalie Dominik Hasek in 1997 and '98.

Ovechkin also walked off with the NHL Players' Association's Lester B. Pearson Award, given to the most outstanding player in voting by fellow players.

The Wild's Niklas Backstrom was one of three finalists for the Vezina Trophy, given to the top goalie, but the award went to Boston's Tim Thomas, who received 22 of 26 first-place votes. Columbus rookie Steve Mason received three first-place votes, and Backstrom had one.

Datsyuk pulled off a double play for the second consecutive season. Datsyuk, the Red Wings' outstanding two-way center, claimed the Selke Trophy as the league's top defensive forward and the Lady Byng for gentlemanly play and skill.

Two other Bruins were honored: Zdeno Chara with the Norris Trophy (top defenseman) and Claude Julien with the Jack Adams Award (coach of the year).

Mason won the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year).

Etc. • Hockey Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur has been given a one-year suspended sentence, fined $100 and ordered to donate $10,000 to charity for giving contradictory testimony during his son's 2007 bail hearing.

• Blackhawks assistant GM Rick Dudley has resigned to pursue other opportunities.

• The Phoenix Coyotes have asked a bankruptcy judge to set a Sept. 15 deadline for the sale of the financially troubled hockey team in a renewed effort to sell to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie.