Washington Capitals 4-5 Buffalo Swords (OT)
In the regular season game of the National Hockey League, the Washington Capitals lost to the Buffalo Sabers by 4:5 in overtime. In this lost match, Russian forward Alexander Ovechkin was named the second star after throwing a corset, once again taking a sure step towards Wayne Gretzky’s “eternal record”. First, another Russian Washington hockey player Evgeny Kuznetsov acted as his assistant, winning the confrontation, and then Alexander the Great kissed the puck strongly, hitting the opponents’ goal. However, on Ovechkin’s second goal, Kuznetsov lost the throw-in, but Conor Shiri came to his aid, intervened and cut the pass to Alexander. As a result, goals 807 and 808 were recorded.
Even before the match, Wayne Gretzky talked about Ovechkin’s success, expressed his confidence that he could beat the record of the Russian hockey player, and also flatteringly spoke about the player himself.
“I think we’re past the point where it’s appropriate to say whether he’ll do it or not. A year ago, we said it was only a matter of time before he beat my record. Great for hockey. This is positive, I believe there could not be a more suitable person for it. He’s great for our sport.
How much can Ovechkin raise the record? It’s up to Gretzky how long he plays and hopefully stays injury-free, the NHL press service reported.
Now Ovechkin has 1457 (808 + 649) points in the NHL. Thus, the Russian hockey player surpassed the legendary Finnish player Teema Selanne to take 16th place in the list of the league’s top scorers. The next goal of the Russian player was Stan Mikita, who scored 1467 points throughout his career. The leader of this standing is Wayne Gretzky – 2857. The striker also caught Brett Hull in the number of games with several goals, taking into account the playoffs, now he has 174 such matches on his account, and according to this indicator, Ovechkin and Hull share the second place in the NHL.
Ovechkin set the record for goals in the first 40 games of the season for hockey players over 36. The 37-year-old striker currently has 28 goals and is advancing at a rate of 50+ goals per season. It is noteworthy that the previous record belongs to Ovechkin, who scored 27 goals in the first 40 games of the 2021/22 season and finished the season with 50 goals.
Gretzky Ovechkin very emotionally recorded his steps to the record, but also did not forget his family: after one of the abandoned pucks, the glass striker gave a five into the hands of his son Sergei.
Buffalo forward Teige Thompson is considered the first star of this game to score four points in the game – three goals (one win in overtime) and an assist. A completed hat-trick allowed the great American forward to beat Ovechkin in terms of goals per season: he now has 30 goals and the Russian player is two goals less. After the match, the leader of the “capitals” evaluated the actions of his opponent and also talked about the game “Washington” in this match.
“He’s big and strong. He moves the puck well, great shot.
Everything went well for Washington when we played hard and pushed the puck deep, used the front control well. This created space for an attack. We immediately began to have quality moments, we scored goals, ”the NHL press service quoted Ovechkin.
Other achievements of Russian hockey players in the NHL
Another outstanding game of the day in the NHL regular season was the New York Rangers v Carolina Hurricanes match, remembered for the duel between New York club forward Artemy Panarin and goalkeeper Pyotr Kochetkov, who started to shine in the Hurricanes. this season. Panarin hasn’t scored regularly this season, but his compatriots have recently suffered from him: Russian goalkeepers Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders and Sergey Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers. And now, in the match against Carolina, Panarin surprised Kochetkov when he drove an arc from the boards to the top, but predictably threw it instead of going to the rim. Maneuvering was sharp and unpredictable for the keeper, who could do nothing.
Panarin’s puck and assist from Vitaly Kravtsov helped the Rangers win 5-3, scoring their first point in six games. Carolina was not saved by Kochetkov’s saves or Andrey Svechnikov’s effective pass. The attacker in this fight also took a power from Jason Truba and then unsuccessfully landed on his back. However, there was no serious injury and Svechnikov was able to continue the match.
The Rangers, in particular, ended the Carolinas’ 17-game winning streak where the team scored. In early December, New York club stopped the Toronto Maple Leafs, ending their 15-game winning streak. The Rangers are reportedly the first team in league history to break more than one 15-game winning streak in a single season.
In another match, St. The Louis Blues defeated Toronto 6-5 in a series of post-match shootouts. Russia’s Ilya Sorokin defended the Maple Leafs gate and made 27 saves, but it wasn’t enough for his team to win. As part of the Blues, Pavel Buchnevich, who assisted and transformed his attempt in a shootout, scored.
At the same time, Vladimir Tarasenko, who was injured in the match against Minnesota Wild on January 1 and could not finish the match, was not able to take part in the match. The Russian player has been on the disabled list for at least a month. There will be a review within four weeks. Buchnevich recalled a conversation he had with a teammate before the Toronto game.
Speaking to The Athletic, Buchnevich said: “After the power play in the first period, he told me he broke his arm and couldn’t hold the stick.
Buchnevich added that after the match, Tarasenko approached him and said it was “just a bruise”.
But Russia’s Nikita Zadorov’s goal did not save the Calgary Flames from defeat in a regular season match against the Winnipeg Jets. The match ended with a score of 3:2. In another match, the Nashville Predators defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6-3. Predators forward Yakov Trenin had an assist.