Washington Capitals 2-4 Anaheim Ducks
Struggling for the playoffs, Washington hosted Anaheim, who was last in the Western Conference standings, last night. And again as part of the “capital” team, captain Alexander Ovechkin, returning from Russia after the funeral of his father, went on the ice. Fans expected a miracle from him – without the Big Eight, Caps completely disintegrated and lost four games in a row, and overall the losing streak reached five games.
Unfortunately, the miracle did not happen. Although the “capitals” scored the first goal – TJ Oshi opened the score in the 11th minute. And shortly after that, Ovechkin had the opportunity to score a great goal, but failed to beat Ducks goalkeeper John Gibson on the patch.
As a result, Ovi spent about 22 minutes on the field but failed to score any goals and finished the game with a score of -2.
And the Ducks turned the tide in the second period. First Isak Lundstrem equalized, then Nick Jensen put Caps ahead again, followed by Troy Terry, assisted by Dmitry Kulikov. It took the teams three minutes for these three goals, but then only the guests scored. In the 43rd minute, Jacob Silverberg sent the third puck to the Washington gate, and Derek Grant eventually hit the empty nets to set the final score.
Ovechkin’s return has so far changed nothing for the Capitals. Moreover, the Capitals set a kind of record – they lost six games in a row for the first time since 2003.
Anaheim interrupted their six-game losing streak. Alexander expressed hope that the situation will change in the next game.
“Everything is fine. I’m glad I’m back, with each shift I feel the game more. But the next game will be better, ”quotes the official NHL website in Russian.
By the way, something happened before this match that undoubtedly upset Ovechkin. His longtime teammate, Russian defender Dmitry Orlov, stopped being a Washington player – he was traded to Boston. Along with him, forward Garnet Hathaway followed the same direction.
“It’s sad. Great teammates, good friends, great players.
It’s tough, but it’s work. That’s life, I wish them good luck and we need to move on, ”said Ovechkin.
According to his representative, Mark Gandler, Orlov himself was shocked by this turn in his career, but plans to take full advantage of this chance and respond to a new challenge.
“Dmitri is shocked but also excited, he wants to win the Stanley Cup. Once you have it, you can’t get rid of the longing. The manager, the trade didn’t surprise him much but either way, it’s shocking to leave the team that drafted you after 11 years whether you’re ready or not. impressive,” he said.
Tampa Bay Lightning – Buffalo Sabers – 5:6 Overtime
One of the highest scoring games of the day was played in Tampa, where local “lightning” took “Buffalo” and lost in overtime. As part of the home team, it should be noted Russian Nikita Kucherov, who assisted Stephen Stamkos in the third minute. This pass was the 60th of the season that allowed the player to set a unique club record.
He became the first hockey player in franchise history to play three seasons with 60 or more assists.
The main hero of the match was the Russian “Buffalo” defender Ilya Lyubushkin. It was he who wrote the winning goal for his team in the second minute of extra time. Surprisingly, he also played “blades” in the minority. Thus, Lyubushkin became the first player in the history of the team to score a goal in a short time during the regular season. Previously Jason Pominville had similar success but scored in the playoff game.
“Look at my stats, I’m not scoring that many goals. But it’s always great, I’m happy to succeed for Buffalo – it’s my team.
There are great guys, great partners here. We have a young team and a good atmosphere, it’s a pleasure to play hockey here,” said Lyubushkin.
Columbus Blue Jackets 0-2 Minnesota Wild
Minnesota defeated Columbus away for the fourth consecutive win. One of the heroes of the meeting was the guests of the Russian striker Kirill Kaprizov. At the start of the match, Brandon Duheim opened the score, and soon after, Kaprizov dropped his puck and 0:2 remained on the scoreboard until the end of the match.
Kaprizov thus increased the score to 34, which goes to his goals of the season. It currently has a total of 68 (34+34) points.
Detroit Red Wings 4-1 New York Rangers
This game was developed for the unfortunate Russian attacking Rangers. Vincent Trochek scored the visitors’ only goal. Artemy Panarin failed to score and Vladimir Tarasenko finished the game with a score of -1.
But it is important to note one more fact. Tarasenko’s St. After his trade from Louis and his debut goal to the Rangers, New York captain Jacob Truba jokingly said the team should trade more Russians.
But the situation seems to be developing in the opposite direction: the team’s forward, Vitaly Kravtsov, missed the game with Detroit due to a possible trade with another club. Earlier, he himself requested an exchange.
Pittsburgh Penguins 2-7 Edmonton Oilers
Pittsburgh crash after crash. The defeat to Edmonton marked the fourth straight for the Penguins, while the black-and-yellows conceded fewer than four goals in any of those games.
A bright spot against this background is the game of Russian striker Evgeni Malkin.
In the game against the Oilers, he co-wrote both of his team’s goals and had two assists.
At the same time, Chris Letang opened the score in the second minute with Malkin’s pass. But the hosts conceded seven goals in a row, and just a minute and a half before the final siren, Letang scored a double with the help of the Russians, which did not sweeten the pill very much.
Louis Blues 2-3 Vancouver Canucks
“Vancouver” was close to being beaten away by “St. Louis”: the visitors lost 1:2 in the last minute of regular time. Russian Andrey Kuzmenko, who scored and equalized half a minute before the siren sounded, saved the situation. The game went to overtime and the Canucks were more successful there – the author of the winning goal was Elias Pettersson.