Washington Capitals 1-2 Dallas Stars
After Alexander Ovechkin scored a spectacular hat-trick in the last game that brought legendary Gordie Howe one more goal on the list of greatest goalscorers in NHL history, Washington fans expected him to surpass that feat in the next game. – especially at home, in the arena.
Before the Dallas game started, it was announced that Ovi had scored 800 career goals, and the entire stadium greeted the Russians with a standing ovation.
This time, however, the Caps leader took a break and interrupted a four-game streak with back-to-back goals. In the match against the “Stars”, he never scored a goal – but did record an assist for Conor Sheary. That didn’t help his team win, as “Washington” lost and interrupted five consecutive winning streaks.
“We’re trying to win. Ovi is aiming for goals and we all want to be the first to congratulate him – we’re incredibly proud of him,” said Washington Capitals forward TJ Oshie.
“But that didn’t happen today. So we will continue to work on his case and we have to focus on winning as many games as possible as a team.”
Thus, the continuation of the Gordie Howe quest is postponed, at least to the next game. Recall that Howe was second in the list of the best snipers in the NHL, scoring 801 goals in his career. About to conquer and exceed this bar, Ovechkin did not hide his respect for the hockey legend.
It showed how much you love hockey, how good you can be no matter how old you are. He played until he was 52 – it’s incredible.
That’s why his name is Mr. Hockey – he was madly in love with the game, ”says Ovechkin official site NHL.
Still, without further success, the Russian did not leave the ice, but this time it is not about chasing peaks. His assist against Dallas was Ovi’s 645th in the league. According to this indicator, he caught up with the famous Bobby Orr and took the 70th place among all players in the history of the NHL.
Florida Panthers 2-4 Pittsburgh Penguins
Unlike Ovechkin, Pittsburgh compatriot Evgeni Malkin threw a puck in the Florida game and helped his team’s winning streak to seven games, but the goal turned out to be curious and extremely unpleasant for Malkin.
Overall, he acted as an extra: After a powerful shot by the Penguins captain, Sidney Crosby, from the left starting circle, the puck hit Malkin’s leg and bounced off the goal. The Russian itself collapsed like a wreck.
Partners immediately came to him – in such a situation, no one thought to celebrate the goal. Eugene was able to leave the ice only with their help. The severity of the damage is not yet clear.
“This is not pleasant to see, it was apparently very painful for him. Over the years we’ve played together, we’ve come across situations like this a few times – not happy about it,” Crosby commented on the event.
In response, Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan spoke about Malkin’s injury and stated that the team is unlikely to lose players for long.
“It’s an unusual way to score, but it’s still a goal. The preliminary forecast for Malkin’s injury is positive, which is a good sign,” Sullivan said.
Even though the evening did not end the way we wanted for the Russian, their success on the ice cannot be ignored. In addition to the goal, he also became the author of the assist for Jake Gunzel and is rightfully recognized as the second star of the meeting. But more importantly, Malkin is close to a turning point: he is only two points behind Sergei Fedorov on the list of the best Russian goalscorers in NHL history. Currently, Evgeny has 1177 points in 1011 games, while Fedorov has 1179 points in 1248 games. The leader of the rating is Ovechkin with 1445 points.
Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 Columbus Jackets
“Tampa” on its ice had no problems encountering “Columbus”. At the same time, Russian hockey players co-authored all four goals in Lightning. In the fourth minute, Pierre-Edouard Bellmare opened the score with Vladislav Namestnikov’s assist. At the start of the second period, the return puck was thrown by Columbus’s Russian forward Kirill Marchenko, but later only burned the names of the home players on the scoreboard.
Before the match was over, Yıldırım scored three more times: Brandon Hagel scored a double, Braden Point scored the puck. And all three times the assist was given by Nikita Kucherov.
Thanks to the auxiliary hat-trick, Kucherov was recognized as the third star of the meeting. He also took the lead in the assist race with 34 assists this season.
Note that he himself could slam on other people’s doors, but failed to defeat his compatriot Columbus goalkeeper Daniil Tarasov. The namesake of the legendary Soviet hockey coach repulsed Kucherov’s shot with an excellent response. Daniel made a total of 25 saves.
Edmonton Oilers – St. Louis Blues – 3:4 B
Extremely difficult for Louis was the away game against Edmonton led by Conor McDavid. The Blues were losing 1:3 during the match, but in the 52nd minute Robert Thomas regained a goal and 20 seconds before the end of regular time Vladimir Tarasenko was the author of the goal and, as it turned out, saved. saved his team from defeat. The winner was determined in a shootout, and the guests turned out to be more accurate.
In addition to Tarasenko, who threw a saving disc, St. Other Russian hockey players from St. Louis also scored. Pavel Buchnevich and Ivan Barbashev each scored points for assists.
Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 Seattle Cracken
“Carolina” easily beat “Seattle” on her own ice, and here we choose the Russian Andrey Svechnikov, who opened the score in this match. The Hurricanes were leading 3-0 but narrowly missed the win.
Kraken forward Ryan Donato’s 32-minute goal was special, not just because he helped the team get back into the game.
With this goal, Carolina goalkeeper Petr Kochetkov’s impressive “dry” streak, which now totals 151 minutes 26 seconds, was interrupted.
This result isn’t the best of all goalkeepers in the club’s history, but it’s the best indicator in Carolinas history for a rookie goalie.