Washington Capitals – Columbus Blue Jackets – 6:7 Overtime
The meeting between Washington and Columbus at Verizon Center began with a solemn 13-minute ceremony in honor of Alexander Ovechkin. The celebration was dedicated to an event that happened relatively long ago – Alexander the Great’s second place in the list of the best NHL snipers in history.
Ovechkin scored his 802nd goal in mid-December, beating the legendary Gordie Howe. But the ceremony was not held immediately, and then the father of the Russian hockey player died, and it was not up to him. Now the captain is playing and scoring again, but because the moment was well chosen.
The event was impressive. It all started in the morning when avatars and caps on club social networks turned into images with the number 802, and throughout the day, short videos with congratulations from other star players of the league began to appear.
“The way you keep scoring is incredible,” said Sidney Crosby of Pittsburgh, Ovie’s longtime colleague with whom they worked together during the last All-Star Game. “And I know you have many more heads. Keep up the good work!”
Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Patrick Kane, Patrice Bergeron, Johnny Gaudreau and top scorer Alexander Barkov also made statements.
All of “Washington” came out to warm up in a number eight jersey with the captain’s name on the back, and a video featuring highlights of Ovechkin’s career was voiced by his longtime teammate and best dispatcher Niklas Backstrom.
Hockey player’s wife Anastasia Shubskaya, player’s mother, famous basketball player and coach Tatyana Ovechkina, and sons Ilya and Sergey appeared on the red carpet before the match started.
A throne of 802 discs appeared on the ice. The NHL gifted Alexander the Great an engraved crystal to commemorate his 800th goal in the league, a Soviet bat from the 1974 Super Series, and the puck Gordie Howe used to score the first goal in that tournament. Teammates Backstrom and TJ Oshi gifted Rus a pendant with the GR800 on one side and the numbers “8” (player number) and “800” on the other.
Ovi received a separate heavyweight trophy in honor of 800 goals as a gift from the club, and each of his sons received a stick. The striker was also gifted with a large painting of him with Gordie Howe and his legendary Canadian son, Mark.
Ovechkin started the match accordingly and opened the score in the sixth minute. That’s right, Alexander passed the far post to Dylan Strome, and Blue Jackets defender Nick Blankenburg sent the puck into his own net. However, he was under pressure from Strome, who would otherwise easily outdo him.
Interestingly, this goal was both an anniversary and a record for Ovi at the same time. He has scored for the 40th time in the current championship, thus surpassing Wayne Gretzky to become the only winner in the number of seasons with so many goals (13 campaigns).
Also, Ovechkin is in his sixth season with 40 goals in his 30s. And this is also a new league record! Phil Esposito has five such titles in his career.
Also, the Russian joined the same Howe, Johnny Bull and Brendan Shanahan, who at the age of 37 were able to score 40 goals (Howe did this at 40).
The match itself seemed to be going great for the Capitals, but it turned out to be a disappointment. Ovechkin’s goal charged the Capitals and they took the lead with a score of 3:0, then 5:3, and when the Blue Jackets were able to bounce back (5:5), the Capitals took the lead again (6:5).
However, the visiting team replaced the goalkeeper Daniil Tarasov with the sixth fielder, leveling the score in the last minute of regular time (6:6), with Jack Roslovik winning them in overtime (7:6).
True, the match didn’t matter much in terms of tournament combat, because neither one nor the other has a real chance for the playoffs.
New York Rangers 2-3 Carolina Hurricanes
The absence of the injured Andrei Svechnikov and the presence of goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin and forwards Artemy Panarin and Vladimir Tarasenko in the opponents did not prevent Carolina from winning an away victory against the Rangers.
It got very heavy. New York offensive player Tyler Mott’s goal in the first period (1-0) remained the only goal in the game for a long time, but the Hurricanes still managed to turn everything upside down in the last 20 minutes.
First, defender Jale Chetfield scored in the 50th minute (1:1), but Kaapo Kakko restored the Rangers advantage (2:1) in just 29 seconds. And here the Stefan Nosen disc, which took place in just 18 seconds (2:2), was a help for the Hurricanes.
With two and a half minutes to go, Teuvo Teryavinen led the guests to victory by forcing Shesterkin, who made 36 saves per game, to surrender for the third time (3:2).
Neither Panarin nor Tarasenko scored any points and each finished the meeting with a utility index of -1.
Thus ended the New Yorkers’ four-game winning streak, and their opponents have already scored 100 points to reach this goal in 69 games – the fastest in the club’s history.
Montreal Canadiens 3-2 Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay, struggling for second place with Toronto in the Atlantic Division, suffered a sensational defeat in the match against Montreal. At stake is the home advantage in the first-round playoff series, which can be a key factor in the conflict between such teams.
And now the journey from the sky to the lost stars in “Montreal”, where goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevski defeated him in all 11 matches …
This time, however, the Russian goalkeeper did not shine, only 17 shots into his own goal and conceding three times.
Moreover, the Canadiens took the lead in the first period with a 2-0 advantage, while Kirby Duck, who could not play for more than a month due to his injury, opened the score.
For writer Jonathan Druen, the second goal of the game and the season was traded from Dallas by the deadline, Denis Guryanov assisted, defender Mikhail Sergachev assisted Yıldırım, while Nikita Kucherov finished the game without points: two shots and a -2 benefit. with the score.
^^^^Other matches^^
Philadelphia Flyers – Florida Panthers – 6:3
New Jersey Devils – Minnesota Wild – 1:2 Overtime
Buffalo Sabers 3-7 Nashville Predators
Boston Bruins 2-1 Ottawa Senators
New York Islanders 7-2 Toronto Maple Leafs
Winnipeg Jets 2-1 Arizona Coyotes
Louis Blues 2-3 Detroit Red Wings
Dallas Stars – Seattle Cracken – 4:5 Overtime
Anaheim Ducks – Calgary Flames – 1:5
Vancouver Canucks 3-4 Vegas Golden Knights
Vegas forward Pavel Dorofeev successfully swapped the bat, scoring the winning goal in the game against Vancouver. This is his fourth goal and sixth point in his last five games.