Ovechkin entered 2023 with a real whirlwind of scores. The Montreal Canadiens were knocked down 9-2, at least to the Washington Capitals captain’s hat-trick.
The eights’ first goal came in the second period. Ovechkin, Lars Eller and Trevor van Rimsdijk played a quick three-man combo, breaking through all of Montreal’s defenses, and it all ended with the Russian striker waiting for a deft pass next to someone else’s penny and throwing the closest “nine”.
In the third period, the captain of “Washington” scored a couple of goals: he converted the majority from his “office” – a stylish shot from the left starting circle. Pak bounced off the bar and flew into the distant “nine” – beauty.
Finally, Ovechkin ended the game: three minutes before the final siren, the Russian single-handedly passed the left flank, pushing back the defender with one shoulder, entering the penny and hitting the goalkeeper at close range ( 9:2).
It is interesting that the Russian striker noted the first two goals in the arena with a lion’s roar and shaking his fist, and it seemed that he did not pay attention to the third – it was too easy.
In the locker room, the Washington players recognized Ovie as the best player of the match and gave him an unusual gift – a very thick firefighter’s rope (the team’s talisman for this season), then forcing him to tighten a hand dynamometer. power (another Caps tradition this season).
With this hat-trick, Ovechkin took a big step towards Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goalscoring record in the NHL (894). Now the Russians have 806 goals, which means “only” 88 goals remain – for a star striker this is a matter of several years.
In addition, Great Eight repeated the record of legendary Canadian Mike Bossy, which he held for 37 years.
Bossy has scored at least 50 goals in a calendar year eight times in his career. Now this feat has been repeated by Ovechkin, who has surpassed 50 goals in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2022.
In addition, Ovechkin scored +25 goals in a season for the 17th time in his career, placing third in NHL history on this indicator, equaling Mike Gartner. Only Jaromir Jagr (18 seasons) and Gordie Howe (20 seasons) were ahead.
Finally, the Russian forward scored his 30th hat-trick in the NHL regular season and entered an elite company of six successful players.
– Phil Esposito (32 hat-trick), Brett Hull (33), Mike Bossy (39), Mario Lemieux (40) and Wayne Gretzky (50).
This match was already 1313 for the Great Eight in the NHL regular season, which means that it will soon break the Russian record for this indicator, which belongs to Alexei Kovalev (1316).
If the statement “How you welcome the new year is how you spend it” is true, Ovechkin will break all possible records before 2024 begins.
Evgeny Kuznetsov, who scored an assist hat-trick in this match, is likely to make the same breakthrough.
In the 32nd second of the match, Eric Gustaffson opened the score with the transfer of Rus, who scored in the fifth game in a row. In the third period, Kuznetsov helped Dylan Strome and Markus Johansson score.